Patience and Time
by alexiteric
Summary: A Hunter with more than a few screws loose and an angsty Titan are thrown together against their will by the Vanguard to defeat Oryx before he can do some serious damage. Will they be able to work together to achieve victory or will their demons destroy them? M for mature themes and language as the story progresses.
1. Chapter 1

The Huntress drew a long, deep breath in, sniper rifle keenly aimed. She did not move a muscle, and she made no sound. After a long pause, her finger squeezed down hard on the trigger.

The shot rang out, and she watched as the bullet shattered a Vex Goblin right in the belly, shattering it into several pieces. Smiling to herself, she aimed down sights again, preparing to take another shot as the remaining Goblins scattered, trying to locate the source of the gunshot.

"Lucy? Urgent transmission. From Cayde." Her Ghost piped up suddenly, making her jump.  
"Jesus, Dinkle." Lucy rolled off her belly and onto her side to glare at her tiny robot. "Play it." She sighed as the Goblins moved well out of her sniper sights.

"Hunter, we need to see you in the Hall of Guardians as soon as possible. A high priority mission has come up, and we need you on this immediately."  
"End Transmission." Dinkle beeped.  
Lucy sighed, and got up from her perch. She carefully climbed down, and slung her weapons over her back.  
"Well, we'd better get to it, Dinkle. Get us out of here." She said quietly as she climbed into her ship, which was docked nearby.

After exchanging a few greetings with fellow guardians upon her arrival, Lucy made her way down to the Halls, where Cayde was engaged in a heated, and frankly one-sided, argument with Eris.  
"HOW can you possibly hate candy?" Cayde was indignantly waving gummy bears under her nose.  
"I do not understand this... candy. What is the point?"  
"It's...it's delicious!" Cayde spluttered, and Zavala glared at him from down the table.  
"Would you mind keeping it down, Cayde?" His low voice boomed through the room.  
"Ah, Lucy, you're here." Ikora was the first to notice the Hunter's presence.  
"That I am." She smiled at the Warlock.

"Hunter. Good, you finally decided to show up." Zavala turned his attention to the Hunter.  
"Finally?" Lucy muttered to Cayde as she moved beside him, and Cayde giggled.  
"We've located some interesting activity up high on Venus. There's intel to suggest that one of Oryx's Echoes is working from up there." Zavala continued.  
"We need a Hunter up there immediately, to do some recon work." Ikora interjected.  
"I'm on it." Lucy went to turn away, but Cayde grabbed her by the arm.  
"Not so fast, Hunter." His tone changed, and she stopped in her tracks.  
"You won't be going on this mission alone." he finished and her eyes met his with a furious glare. She yanked her arm out of his grasp.  
"Are you kidding me, Cayde?" her voice rose half an octave, and even Zavala took a step back. "You know I don't serve in fireteams. Not anymore." her voice dropped to a low growl and her eyes darkened.  
"You're just going to have to deal with it, Hunter. I'm sending a Titan along with you. He's the best in our field and those Echoes have a reputation for being very powerful."  
"A Titan? You want me, to take a freaking _Titan_ on a recon mission." Her aggravation was apparent in her tone, and her question came out as more of a statement as she started pacing around. "I mean, the least you can do is let me take a Warlock... at least they're more useful..." her voice dropped to a grumble and she kicked her feet along the ground. Ikora shot Zavala a triumphant smirk.

She became so engrossed in kicking the ground that she failed to notice the presence of the Titan summoned to work with her. He had been present for most of the conversation, waiting for the right moment to interject. The moment never came, as the Hunter so intent on kicking the floor, managed to walk headfirst into his chest.  
"Crap!" She was startled by the presence of the Titan. She immediately took a few steps backwards to survey the human standing before her.

He was tall. So, so tall. But then again, she was extremely short with a very small frame. _Still, he must be clear of six feet,_ she thought to herself. He had scruffy short brown hair and big chocolate brown eyes. His expression was not cold, but he did not smile, either.

He met her suspicious gaze and held it there for a long time. His eyes pierced through her, and she almost faltered. _Hmmm, maybe he wouldn't be so difficult to work with_ , she mused, seems like the kind of guy to keep to himself. _Good._ She didn't want any kind of emotion involved with her work.

"Storm, Lucy, now that you've both met, you have your assignment." Zavala had moved from his end of the table to stand beside the two Guardians. His voice broke their intense gaze upon one another, and after hastily nodding at Zavala, Lucy turned on her heels and disappeared.

"Wow." The Titan muttered under his breath.  
"Yeah. Sooooo, that's Lucy, my best Hunter. Master of stealth and cunning, quick as lightning with a lockpick, and one of the best hackers of her time." Cayde's voice popped up beside him, making him jump. Freaking Hunters, too damn quiet, he thought to himself.  
"What on earth is her problem?" the Titan enquired, looking down at Cayde.  
"Ah, she's a complicated wee thing. Doesn't play too nice with others anymore." Cayde gazed at the doorway where Lucy had disappeared. He was silent for a moment before continuing. "She led the first successful team to defeat Crota."  
The Titan gasped. "Wait...seriously? She was in Fireteam Alpha?" he paused for a moment. "Didn't they..."  
"Get ambushed and wiped out? Yes." Cayde interrupted. "She was the sole survivor." Cayde began walking forward, and the Titan followed suit. "To this day, we have no idea what went on down there. How she lived at all is a miracle."  
It wasn't like Cayde to be so sombre, and Storm almost felt uncomfortable.  
"I'm sorry you have to be in this situation, Titan. But I can guarantee you there is trouble waiting up there, and she's going to need all the help she can get." Cayde turned to him and shook his hand. "Get some rest, Guardian. You depart in the morning."


	2. Chapter 2

Storm found Lucy early the next morning in the Tower Hangars, talking to Amanda and preparing her ship.  
"Morning." he said pleasantly. She looked at him and offered a half smile. "Mind if I put my stuff on board?"  
"Sure." She responded. "There's a bunk on the right that you can have, and storage is underneath. The journey will take a few hours, so get comfortable." With that, she shut the door and made her way to her own bunk.  
"Dinkle, set path for Venus." she murmured to her Ghost as she made herself comfortable with a book.

"Dinkle? You called your Ghost... Dinkle..." The Titan said quietly from his bunk, an almost mocking tone in his voice.  
"Do you have a problem with that? Lucy dropped her book into her lap and glared at him.  
"No, not at all." A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. She was cute when she was mad. Oh, the fun he was going to have.

The hours passed, and the Titan lay on his side, staring absentmindedly at the Hunter, deep in thought. Though he had a tough exterior, he was a kind hearted soul that loved to help others. There was something intriguing about this Hunter. Her brown hair hung haphazardly around her face, her piercing blue eyes deep inside her book. Her face was small and round, almost delicate, but she had a ruggedness about her that he couldn't help but admire. When he thought about it, it was quite odd to see Guardians in plain clothes. She wore a plain grey crew cut tshirt paired with black skinny jeans that highlighted her shapely figure. For a human so small, she clearly carried a lot of emotional baggage, and the only way for her to deal with it was to shut everyone and everything out. _If only there was a way to break through that barrier,_ he pondered.

His thoughts were shattered as the ship screeched to a halt, and the Hunter quietly leapt to her feet. She opened the back end of the ship, exposing an almost wardrobe-like room. She caught him staring.  
"What? I'm not going to sit in my armour for hours." She muttered as she shut the door behind her. Moments later, she emerged, hopping around on one foot, struggling to get her boot on the other. She steadied herself on the side of her bunk and finished lacing it, before grabbing her guns and opening the door.  
"Here goes nothing, I guess."

The duo approached the Citadel quietly, picking off a stray Vex or two on the way. There were a bunch of Taken collected at the entrance they needed to get through. The Titan was ready to charge, but Lucy extended her arm in front of him.  
"Here." she threw something at the ground, and they both turned invisible.  
The Titan shook his head, and the two walked quietly past.

Having made their way up through the gravity lift with no problems, the duo came upon a jumping puzzle.  
"Damn Vex. I hate these stupid things." She muttered, slinging her pulse rifle onto her back.  
The Titan made the jumps easily, and waited for her on the other side. She leapt from rock to rock, taking her time. Her foot slipped on the final jump, and she almost lost her footing. Instinctively, the Titan grabbed at her, catching her by the arm and pulling her to her feet.  
"I had it under control." She muttered, dusting herself off, thankful that her helmet hid her flaming red cheeks. "Should have brought my other boots."  
"You know what they say about Hunters..." Lucy could hear the cheeky grin on her comrade's face.  
"Yeah, we have knives." She responded, half jokingly. "Let's go."

The two crawled along the edges,until they reached a higher platform.  
"Give me a boost." The Hunter whispered, leaning against the wall beside the Titan.  
"What?"  
"Boost me!" an annoyed tone crept up in her voice. "If I start jumping around, how long do you think we're going to stay undetected?"  
The Titan grunted in response, and crouched down. She set her foot on his shoulder and hoisted herself up. She then leaned over the side, offering her hand to him.  
"Don't worry. I got it." He murmured and climbed up without an issue.  
"Forgot you were a freaking giant."  
"I'm not, you're just a..." his sentence was cut off by an elbow to the ribs.  
"Shut up. Echo at 12 o'clock." she whispered and dropped to her belly. After a few seconds she rolled over and looked at him.  
"Where is your sniper rifle?"  
"I didn't bring one, I brought my shotgun instead."  
"You brought a shotgun to a recon mission?" this time she sounded completely exasperated. She sighed and looked down her sights again.  
"Dinkle, did you manage to get the data we need?"  
"Yes, Lucy. Feeding it back to the Tower as we speak."  
"Thank you. Let's get out of here before one of these damn things smells us."

They jumped down off the platform, and began to make their way back. Just as they rounded the final corner, they bumped head first into a Taken Phalanx.

The enemy immediately began to charge his shield, and Lucy froze. She had been caught off guard, and now suddenly her mind had gone blank...

Reality faded in that split second and all she could see was her fireteam. The ambush. The yelling, the screaming, the swarms of enemies all around... She couldn't help them...

"Lucy!" The Titan yelled, but his voice sounded distant.  
The next thing she knew, she was being slammed to the ground, but not by the Phalanx.  
No, it was Storm, who had tackled her out of the way of the shield blast. The weight of him near crushed her, but damn, was she thankful. She caught his gaze through his helmet, and saw the fear in his eyes.  
The Titan leapt to his feet and grabbed onto her hand, yanking her up.  
"Run." he kept a tight grip on her hand, and the two sprinted between enemies into a tiny building nearby. They took refuge inside behind a large wall.  
Lucy leaned back and slid down the wall, burying her head in her hands, propping herself up with her elbows on her knees.  
"What the hell was that?" The Titan growled, yanking his helmet off and glaring at her.  
"I... I'm sorry..." she stammered, hot, stinging tears pricking at her eyes. She shook her head violently, trying to ward them off. She was still gasping for breath, and her helmet was suffocating her. She tried to take it off, but her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't loosen the clasp.  
The Titan softened. "Here." he sat in front of her and lifted her chin up. Once he'd unfastened it, he carefully pulled it off her head.  
She sucked the fresh air into her lungs greedily.  
"Deep breaths." he set her helmet down beside her. "We're totally fine." After a few long moments, she had composed herself. He was still sitting in front of her, hand rested on hers, watching her intently. She looked at him with woeful eyes.  
"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened."  
"Don't worry about it. We're okay, we just need to get out of here and get home." He reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair from her face.  
She flinched a little, not expecting his sudden affection, and he looked immediately apologetic. He awkwardly passed her helmet back to her.

"There's a bunch of enemies camped at this door." Lucy commented, peeking around the corner. "Got a grenade?"  
The Titan nodded.  
"On my count. 3...2...1..."  
A vortex and fusion grenade flew from the doorway, wiping out the three Phalanx blocking their path. They made a bolt for the door, and as they ran through a taken Hobgoblin appeared. Startled, Lucy shadestepped clear, but the Titan was left defenseless.  
Without hesitation, the Titan whipped out his shotgun and blasted the Hobgoblin into nonexistence. He turned to look at her.  
"Told you it'd come in useful." she heard that telltale smile in his voice again, and couldn't help but smile herself.


	3. Chapter 3

"Are we going to talk about what happened out there?" The Titan jogged behind the Hunter as she power walked out of the Hangar.  
"No."  
"Why not?"  
"Nothing to talk about."  
The Titan caught up to her and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around to face him.  
"You choked on the field. I'd say we need to talk about that if we're going to be working with each other."  
She glared down at his hand on her arm.  
"We won't be working together again. I signed up for this one recon mission. It's done, end of story." She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he held tight.  
"Do you honestly believe that? We are the best of the best, Lucy. The City is gearing up to take on Oryx. They're going to want you and I on the front lines."  
"Well they're shit out of luck, aren't they? I retired from fireteam work a year ago, and I'm not going back." This time, she succeeded in yanking her arm out of his grasp.  
"When are you going to face what happened?" He called after her as she walked away. She stopped dead in her tracks, her fists clenching, and turned back towards him.  
"You have NO idea what happened to me. So don't even pretend like you do, or that you even care." She was right up in his space now, her words sharp as knives.  
The two were engaged in such a heated argument that they failed to realise the commotion they had caused in the tower. Even the Cryptarch was staring.  
"You need to just..." her words were cut off by Zavala and Cayde, who had come out of the Halls to address the two.  
"Hunter! Stand down." Zavala's words sliced between the two of them, and a hand grasped on to her fist, gently drawing her backwards.  
"Not worth it, Lucy. Take a breath." Cayde kept a hold of her and stepped her backwards. Zavala stepped forward towards the Titan.  
"What are you thinking, baiting her like that? You can't solve anything that way. Now come down to the Halls and tell me what happened." He turned to Cayde. "Escort Lucy to her apartment." The Exo nodded in response.

"She choked. We came around a corner and she just stared at the Phalanx like it wasn't about to blast her to kingdom come. She could have been killed. Hell, she could have killed the both of us."  
"And this is why you were assigned with her. You managed to defuse the situation, and got the both of you out safely." Zavala countered the pacing Titan.  
"I'm not cut out for this." He muttered, pacing a tighter circle than before, and Cayde half expected him to burn a circle into the floor.  
"I understand she's a handful, Storm. I do. But with Oryx breathing down our necks, we need only the best ready to fight him. We cannot in good conscience send underprepared Guardians to their deaths. They're busy enough keeping the Taken at bay, and losing too many good people will just allow the Taken to push even harder." Zavala replied.  
"Look. Go blow some steam off in the Crucible. We'll figure all of this out. Just give it time." Cayde rested a hand on the Titan in an attempt to get him to stop pacing.  
The Titan nodded and left without a word.

"Are you sure the Crucible is a good idea in your...state of mind?" Dinkle inquired of his companion.  
"Yes, Dinkle. Teaching a few wannabe guardians seems like the perfect way to get back into the swing of things."

After a couple of hours teaching a few fellow Hunters some tips and tricks, Lucy took a break, and sat down to clean her weapon. Lord Shaxx approached her after a moment.  
"Impressive fighting out there, Hunter." she loved his thick accent.  
"Thank you, Shaxx. I was taught by the best." She smiled at him. Though he was a Titan, he had a wealth of knowledge that not a lot of people knew about.  
"There's a few spots open for 1v1, if you're up to it."  
"I don't know, Shaxx. I've been off my game lately."  
"The only way to improve is to practise." he patted her on the shoulder and walked away. "There's a session waiting for you on Shores of Time, when you're ready."  
Lucy smiled and watched him walk away. She put the pieces of her Nirwen's Mercy back together, and stood up. _No time like the present,_ she thought to herself. _Wonder who Shaxx is putting me up against..._

She wasn't wondering for long. The moment she heard the unmistakeable sound of a shoulder charge...  
"No, no no..." she muttered to herself. She turned back towards the portal, and to her dismay, it was closed.  
"Shaxx, you bastard..." she crouched down upon a structure that jutted out from the ground, and aimed down her sights. Sure enough, the Titan came sprinting through the doorway, and she popped him right between the eyeballs. She laughed to herself.

"Holy crap." Storm didn't even feel the bullet hit him, it happened so fast.  
"Please be more careful." His Ghost, Otto, chirped in his ear.  
"I know, I know. I just have to counter her ranged attacks."

After a half hour, it was safe to say that she was kicking his ass. He couldn't seem to close the gap between them, no matter how hard he tried. He'd shut her down with his super a few times, at least.

He'd gotten lucky with this spawn. Somehow he'd ended up to the left of her, and she was so intent on looking down her sights that she failed to notice his approach.

She heard his footsteps too late, and before she could react he was over the top of her, pinning her to the ground.  
"Gotcha." that smirk was back and it plain made her mad this time. She tried to wriggle loose, but he had a strong grip. Damn Titans.  
"Ugh. Fine. You got me. Make it quick so we can get this match finished."  
"You're an expert at range, Lucy, I'll give you that. But your close quarters combat needs a lot of work." his tone was almost taunting, and she let out a growl. Without a word, she wrapped her legs around him and twisted hard, throwing him off balance. It was enough to make him lose his grip, and gave her enough time to get to her feet and start running. His reflexes were quick however, and he managed to grab onto her cloak, yanking her backwards. For the next minute they were a flurry of arms and legs as their fist fight became more intense. For every punch he threw, she seemed to be able to block, and for every attempt she made to make him lose balance, he was able to counter every time. The frustration built betwen the two until finally one punch connected with her shoulder, and she took a tumble right off the platform. She wasn't about to go down without him, yanking him down with her. She hit the ground hard, taking the full impact of the blow with her left shoulder. She yelped in pain, but kept struggling with the Titan.  
"Will you... just... STOP!" she yelled, her shoulder in excruiciating pain.  
"Stop what? You wanted a fight, didn't you? This is what you get." Storm felt like he was trying to fight with a bowl of jello, with how slippery she seemed to be.  
"Stop trying to prove a point all the damn time!" She kicked out hard, and her boot connected with his shin. Despite his armour, it hurt. She used this moment to get back to her feet. She reached for her weapon, but the scuffle had sent it flying. Panting hard, she backed away from him slowly. For every step she retreated, he advanced two steps, until he had her back to the wall. He used his forearm to pin her across the chest. He could hear her panting hard through her helmet. He wasn't even sure how she could see, with how fogged up her visor must be.

With his free hand, he loosened the clasp on his Helm of Inmost Light and pulled it off his head. It dropped to the ground with a resounding thud. She watched as it rolled for a moment before coming to a stop.

His hand was under her chin now, tugging at the clasp. She winced. Sure enough, he pulled hers off too. For the first time, she dared to look him in the eye. He was close enough that she could feel his breath on her face. She held his gaze, trying to remain strong, though her body was crying out to stop.

After staring for what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.  
"I am not... your enemy." his voice came out as barely more than a whisper.

His words startled her, and all too suddenly she felt tears pricking at her eyes. She broke his gaze and tried to turn away, but he hooked a finger under her chin and drew her face back.  
"You have no idea what it's like." her voice came out jagged and hoarse.  
"Dammit, Lucy. You aren't the only one to lose good people." he growled and pinned her harder against the wall. "I can't fix you. But dammit, I might just be able to make it easier if you'd let me."  
His words surprised them both, and she stared up at him, her blue eyes churning like he'd never seen before.  
"Let me." he was out of words at this point, but he knew she was about to break. Lord knows why she was fighting so hard.

Her body ached beyond belief. Her head was spinning. His arm against her chest hurt. Every emotion was threatening to break her apart, every fiber of her being screamed out for relief...

The tears came suddenly. He felt her body crumble underneath his grasp and he only just managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Her whole body shook as her emotions poured out of her in thick, hard sobs. Her arms grasped around him, her face buried into his neck. He wrapped one arm around her back, the other hand against her head, holding her tight. He rocked a little from side to side, in shock at what had just transpired. He hadn't expected her to break quite like this.

After what felt like a lifetime, her body stopped shaking as hard, her breath catching a lot slower than before. He looked down at her, and she barely even seemed conscious. He wasn't sure if the fighting had taken it out of her, or if it was the energy expended from crying so hard. Either way, he needed to get the both of them out of the arena.

"Let's get you out of here, hmm?" He murmured in her ear, as he picked her up and walked through the portal.


	4. Chapter 4

Something startled her out of her sleep, though she was not sure what it was. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, the afternoon sunlight initially blinding her.

As her eyes adjusted, she realised that she was not at home. Or in her ship. Or anywhere familiar, for that matter. She was in a Tower apartment...  
She swung her legs off the big sofa and stood up. As she stretched, a sharp pain in her shoulder sat her straight back down, and she clutched at it, stifling a whimper. It was all coming back to her now, the fight with Storm, the pathetic breakdown she'd had...  
 _You are such a freaking idiot,_ she scolded herself. The pain subsided, and she stood up again. She glanced around for her armour, but saw it nowhere. She swore under her breath and made straight for the door. She'd just turned the handle when a voice from behind startled her. She spun around so quickly Storm was sure he heard her neck crack. She looked up at him with scared eyes.  
"Where ya off to?" he asked gently.  
"I..." she stammered and her eyes glanced around as she scrambled for an answer.  
"Well, how about you stay for a bit longer, and we can take a look at that shoulder."  
With no other choice, she followed him back to the sofa and sat down. He made his way to another room and returned with a medkit. He sat down beside her and pushed the sleeve of her tshirt up.  
"Can you take your shirt off? I can't see this properly."  
His request was met with an indignant glare.  
"Well at least slide your arm out, if you want your shoulder to feel better, I have to be able to see what I'm doing." his voice took on a slightly annoyed tone.  
She sighed and pulled her shirt clean off, surprising him. After examining her shoulder for a minute, he pulled a balm out of the box.  
"What is it?" she asked quietly, as he gently spread it across her skin.  
"I actually got it from the Warlocks. A couple of years back I dated this beautiful woman, Michelle was her name...anyway, they have this insanely intelligent doctor down there, who made all kinds of interesting concoctions. When I pulled a muscle in my leg back then, he gave me this stuff, and now I swear by it."  
"Pretty name." she murmured, watching his hand as he guided it across the top of her arm. "What happened?"  
"Killed in action." his voice was low and quiet.  
"You loved her." she hadn't meant to say it, but it tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it.  
He stopped rubbing for a moment and stared blankly at her.  
"Yes."  
He resumed the same pattern once more, and the two sat in a long and awkward silence.  
After what felt like forever, his hands slid off her shoulder.  
"That's about the best I can do. I can put more on later, but for now, just keep it still."  
"Thank you." her voice was still quiet and she stood up to put on her shirt.  
As she did so, he couldn't help but notice the long, jagged scar that started on her left hip and dragged all the way across her stomach to the underside of her right breast.  
"Jesus. How the hell did you do that?" he asked, gasping.  
She stopped dead for a moment, and her eyes went dark.  
"A souvenir from Crota." she quickly pulled her shirt down over the scar.  
"I..." he began.  
"Don't worry about it." she stopped him in his tracks. "Where is my armour?"  
Storm shut his mouth and pointed to his bedroom. "I hung it up with mine so that it wouldn't get out of shape."  
She flashed an appreciative smile at him, and his heart jumped. That was the first time she'd really smiled at him, and he loved it.

She returned moments later, chest piece and gauntlets draped over her good arm, helmet rested on top and boots in her other hand. She motioned towards the door, a silent request for him to open it.  
"You know I'm here...anytime." he said as he opened the door.  
"Oh, this...this never happened." her words were quiet but he felt like he'd just been stung. Before he could react, she was long gone.  
He stared out the doorway after her for a long time, until his Ghost interrupted his thoughts.  
"I hate to interrupt, but there's an incoming transmission from Commander Zavala." Otto beeped on his shoulder.  
Storm snapped out of his thoughts and turned to his Ghost.  
"Sure. Play it."  
"Titan. I need you to come down to the Halls. We have new intel on the Echoes present in the area. It's late already, so come down tomorrow. Zavala out."  
Storm sighed. This situation was about to get more complicated, he could feel it.


	5. Chapter 5

It was late afternoon before Storm made it down to the halls, and Zavala was not impressed.  
"Where have you been, Guardian?" the Awoken snapped.  
"Sorry. Otto failed to trigger my alarm, like I requested." Storm glared at his companion. What Zavala didn't need to know, was that he'd spent all night absentmindedly drinking and watching tv.  
"Have you seen Lucy recently, Titan?" Cayde piped up as they turned back towards the table.  
"No. Isn't she meant to be here for this briefing?" Storm responded.  
"She has never been late for anything. I'm going to put out an alert to all ghosts." Cayde moved to a nearby portal.  
"Let's not be hasty with our valuable resources..." Ikora started, and Cayde whipped around to face her.  
"We are running out of time, Warlock." he was absurdly serious, and everyone fell silent.

"Well, what if I got a search party together? There's strength in numbers." Storm offered, and Cayde nodded.  
"Here. Take this for your ghost, complete dossiers of our best guardians." Ikora said from behind him.  
"Don't worry. I know exactly who I need for this mission." Storm called over his shoulder as he ran out of the halls.

He approached the apartment block several minutes later, hesitating before he knocked on the door. This was the first time he'd been back since...  
No.  
He couldn't think about it.  
He knocked sharply three times, and another Titan answered the door.  
"Storm?!" The Titan asked incredulously.  
"Hey, Lee." Storm couldn't help but smile. His friend looked just the same as he'd remembered.  
"Come in! Come in!" Lee ushered him inside. "The others are scattered around. Make yourself at home. I'll go get something to drink!" Lee skated around the corner, knocking straight into a Hunter who he recognised as his old team mate, Alex.  
"Well, if it isn't Storm!" a smile spread on the Hunter's face, and he reached over to shake his hand. "Good to see you man."  
"Same to you." Storm replied. The years had been kind to Alex, who was just a young and cocky Hunter when they'd fought together. Still, he couldn't be that old, he assumed that he must be around the same age as Lucy. With how long people lived these days, it didn't really matter anyway, though.

"So what brings you here, man? I never thought I'd see you around these parts again." The Hunter sat down and began to dismantle his Last Word for cleaning.  
"Well, I got dragged into some work with a mentally unstable hunter who has now gone missing, and now I have to track her down and somehow get her into fighting shape before Oryx obliterates us off the face of the earth."  
Alex shot him a strange look. "Her, huh? Thought you swore off fireteam work."  
"I did. I had no choice in the matter, and Zavala can be... scary." Storm smirked at how dumb he sounded.  
"True that. So let me guess, you want our help to track her down?" The Hunter dropped a piece of his gun and it clinked loudly across the table. A hand landed on the piece and flicked it back towards Alex.  
"Did I hear whispers of an adventure?" Storm looked up to see Dylan, the young Warlock who was barely more than an apprentice when they'd met.  
"Good to see you." Storm smiled.  
"So what's so special about this girl that the Vanguard want her to take on Oryx?" Alex guided the conversation back.  
"She led Fireteam Alpha."  
"Holy crap. Seriously?" Alex's mouth dropped open. "She's like... wow." he was speechless.  
"I know it's a long shot. But back in the day we were just as highly regarded." he paused as Jason, another Warlock, came into the room. "If we can get her back into fighting condition, we could honestly have a shot at getting our hands on Oryx ourselves."  
"I don't know about that." Alex looked hesitant. "None of us have fought in years. We've all been exclusively Crucible Trainers."  
"I'm just throwing it out there." Storm replied. "Would you guys at least help me find her? Otto pinpointed her last location as somewhere on Venus."  
"I'm in." Lee piped up, and the others nodded.  
"Great. We leave in twenty minutes."

-  
"So, Otto last caught a signal from Lucy's ghost near the Citadel. I know that doesn't narrow it down, but it's a starting point." Storm looked at his comrades. "I'm going to go down into the Vault and make sure she hasn't gone down there. Jason can come with me. Alex, check out Campus 9, and then continue up to the Endless Steps. Dylan and Lee, you can search around the Citadel."

Once they touched down on Venus, the men spread out to their assigned locations and began their search.  
"So, this Hunter..." Jason began as he and Storm climbed down the Vault, "is she cute?"  
Storm glared at his partner.  
"I'll take that as a yes." Jason snickered.  
"It depends on who's looking at her, I suppose." Storm murmured as he offered his companion a hand down an unsteady cliff.  
"I'm just screwing with you. I mentored her when she was a fresh Guardian." Jason laughed.  
"A Warlock mentoring a Hunter?" Storm raised an eyebrow.  
"Back in the day, there wasn't a lot of choice. You took what you could get, and we were running pretty low on Hunters at the time." Jason paused. "I haven't seen her in years. We went on a recon mission together and then I was reassigned to Crucible, and I never saw her again."  
"From what I gathered, she just did private recon work for the Vanguard. I haven't seen a lot of her abilities but she packs a mean punch in the Crucible." Storm instinctively rubbed his shoulder, which was still sore from his altercation with her

"Do you want to keep going? We could go all the way to the end, but I honestly don't think she's down here." Jason turned to Storm.  
"Let's just go a little bit further. Then we can go back."  
"I'm not getting a great signal down here, Titan." Otto piped up.  
"I know. We'll be back at the surface shortly."

Dylan and Lee were having similar luck as Storm and Jason, finding no trace of her anywhere. They both agreed to move up towards the Ember Caves.

It was Alex who stumbled on her, quite by accident really. He'd been scanning the area for enemies before making the big walk to the top, when he caught sight of something far on the other side. He scoped in as far as he could, and what he saw made him catch his breath.

She was standing facing out into the giant valley. Gun slung over one shoulder, staring out into the nothingness. She was wearing beautiful armour, gear he'd never seen before. His guess was loot she'd gained defeating Crota. She wore a long, white cloak with gold detailing. From this distance he could barely make out a white wolf outlined by gold detailing.

Her gun dropped from her shoulder suddenly, and she turned around. He quickly scoped out, and rolled off to the side, hoping she couldn't see him from such a distance. After lying still for a few minutes, he dared to scope back in, but she was long gone.

He stood up and dusted himself off, planning to contact Storm and get everyone to his location.  
A knife held to his throat soon interrupted this plan.  
"Who are you, why are you here, and why are you spying on me?" A voice growled in his ear. It had to be Lucy. Damn, did she move fast.  
"Woah, easy." He didn't dare move a muscle. She twisted his wrist up behind his back.  
"Don't make me ask again."  
"Easy. I'm here with Storm. We've been looking for you." Alex was almost afraid. He was bigger and definitely stronger than her, but he didn't dare challenge her.  
"Why." her question sounded more like a statement.  
"Well, I know that Storm cares about you, and that he needs and wants you on his team."  
She pulled her knife away from his neck and knocked him to the ground. The sudden movement took him by surprise, and he landed hard on the ground, swearing under his breath.  
"No. I don't do feelings. I won't have anyone caring about me. That's now how this works."  
He couldn't see her expression behind her helmet, but she almost sounded like she'd been crying.  
"Why not?" he asked after a moment of silence.  
She drew her weapon.  
"You wouldn't understand."  
"Try me."  
His challenge surprised her a little, and she took a small step back.  
"Who the hell are you, anyway?"  
"Alex. Hunter. Exile Order."  
"Exile. You're those big crucible buffs. Took out the Dynasty Order in the last competition." she paused and lowered her gun a little to look at him. "You're the one that clutched the victory."  
"It wasn't a big deal..." he started to say, when suddenly he saw movement behind her.  
"Lucy, look out!" A huge Minotaur was charging towards them, guns blazing. She spun around, but before she could react, Alex had tackled her off to the side. The two rolled down the hill, bumping and bashing into one another as they tried to gain traction. Finally, Lucy managed to regain her footing and stood up. She whipped her Stillpiercer of her back and put two neat shots into the Minotaur's head. She lowered her gun and turned to look at Alex, who had now gotten to his feet.  
"Nice shot!" he said with a smile.  
"Nice tackle." she murmured before dropping heavily to the ground.  
"Lucy, are you alright?" Alex attempted to catch her but failed. He knelt in front of her.  
"Yeah...I..." she stammered. "I just hurt myself..." he looked down and saw her clutching at her right thigh.  
"Shit..." He whispered as he saw a large shard of Vex rock jutting out of her leg.  
"Help me...get it out..." she said between gasps.  
"Hold on." he pulled off his helmet and pushed it aside along with their guns. He quickly reached for hers but she shied away.  
"You need fresh air. Let me." his voice took a slightly scolding tone. She sighed, and tilted her chin upwards so he could reach the clip.  
He'd seen pictures of her, but he wasn't prepared for how pretty she was. It wasn't like she had the looks of a model, but such a small face with bright blue eyes drew him in. Even when she was gasping in pain, funnily enough.  
"Hurry up please." she whimpered, tears stinging at her eyes.  
"Alright. On the count of three. 3...2...1..."  
He pulled it out slowly, and she howled in pain.  
"Easy, easy, we're done." she was still clutching at her leg, desperately trying not to cry. Without thinking, he pulled her into his chest, and she let out a series of pained noises, muffled by his armour.  
"It's alright. We're through the worst of it now. I'm sorry I had to do that." He ran his fingers up her back, doing his best to keep her calm.  
She pulled back from him, and looked up into his eyes. Even through the pain she couldn't help but admire how cute he was. His almost-black hair flew around wildly in the wind, and his soft blue eyes were filled with worry.  
He held her gaze for a moment, and the idea of kissing her flicked through his mind. She was holding his gaze intently, not faltering.  
No.  
"Let's see if we can get some help." he pulled himself out of her gaze and rose from his knees. "Any chance you can walk?" he reached out for her, and she accepted his hand. As soon as she stood, she faltered, but managed to stay somewhat steady.  
"If you let me lean on you, I'll make it alright." she said quietly and he slung her arm over his shoulders. She was nothing like the Hunter he'd met fifteen minutes ago, now she was quiet, almost vulnerable as she limped painfully beside him.  
"I've made contact with Storm's ghost. They are en route, and his ship will be docking as close to here as possible." Alex's ghost piped up in his ear.  
"Good. Storm will be glad to see you."  
Lucy's heart sank. She felt like an idiot, and not just in front of Alex.

After what seemed like an endless walk, Storm and the other three Guardians appeared over the horizon. They rushed over when they realised she was injured.  
"What the hell were you thinking?" Storm scolded as he knelt down to inspect her wound. "We'll treat that on the ship, and dock at the infirmary when we get back to the Tower."  
"I don't need..." she began.  
"Can it, Lucy. You don't get to make this choice." his voice took an even more firm tone, and she stopped abruptly.  
"Here. I'll carry you up to the ship." Before he'd finished his sentence, Alex had swooped her up into his arms and was making his way inside.

"Alright. Pants off." Storm said matter-of-factly as Alex set her down.  
"...You're kidding me, right? I'm not taking my pants off for you." there was a bite to her words, and Alex smirked.  
"I need to clean that up, and I can't do it if you have pants on. Take them off."  
She sighed. "Fine."  
She felt totally embarrassed at having to strip down in front of five grown men, but none of them seemed to care. Alex was keeping a watchful eye nearby, brow furrowed and deep in thought.  
"Here's something for the pain." Storm placed some pills in her palm. She quickly skulled them down with a bottle of water, and before she knew it she had fallen asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Bright sunlight woke her up early the next morning. She realised she was in the Tower Infirmary, judging by the uncomfortable bed and the irritating beeping off in the distance. She turned her head to her right and almost laughed. Storm was dead asleep in the chair beside the bed, using his helmet as some kind of makeshift pillow. Boy, his neck was going to be sore when he woke up. She shifted uncomfortably to a sitting position, and dared to look under the sheets at her leg.  
Ouch.  
She had more than a dozen stitches in a row. The gash was much larger than she remembered it to be, though her pants probably masked a lot of the damage at the time.  
A doctor interrupted her thoughts as he came into the room.  
"Morning, Hunter." he said cheerfully. His voice startled Storm clear out of his sleep, and his helmet fell to the ground with a loud clang. The two stared at him, and he quietly apologised.  
"Fortunately, your fellow Hunter pulling the shard out was a good thing. If it had fragmented that would have been a much bigger mess to clean up. However, we only had to pull a couple of small pieces out, and once those stitches heal, you'll be back to it in no time."  
"Thank you, Doctor." Lucy said politely and he soon left. She turned to look at Storm, unsure of how he was going to react.

"You know I'm mad at you." He said in a low voice, and her eyes dropped from his gaze. She remained silent.  
"What were you even doing? Alone? And why disconnect your Ghost?"  
She stared straight forward, and Storm could see her eyes glassing over. She blinked furiously and fiddled with her hands.  
"Lucy..." he leaned forward a little, resting his elbows on his knees.  
"I buried Brucie there." her voice came out barely more than a whisper.  
"Brucie?"  
"He was a Warlock on my team. Fireteam Alpha. My Warlock." Tears silently flowed down her cheeks now.  
She turned to look at him, and he caught the raw emotion in her eyes.  
"He wanted to be buried by the water. He loved the beautiful colours on Venus. The blue, green, red of the streams that ran through. Down in the valley...there's no Vex. No Fallen. Just peace. There's a cave down by the stream. I buried him there."  
The emotion caught up to her and she lay back down, turning away from Storm and burying her face into her pillow.  
He didn't speak, and she was kind of grateful that he was sparing her the pity talk. After several long moments, she heard him move, and thought he was leaving. However, instead of leaving her was climbing into the bed beside her.  
"What..." she rolled over and came face first with his chest.  
"Thought you needed a hug." he said simply, and she sighed heavily against him.  
"I didn't mean to scare you." she murmured, muffled by his shirt.  
"I know."

The two lay in silence for a long, long time.  
"You know, I was in love with a Warlock once." his voice rumbled in his chest against her ear.  
"You mentioned it."  
"She was beautiful. She was so talented. Shy, but full of life once you got to know her. Nobody else knew her very well, but we became close."  
She nodded against his chest, staying quiet.  
"She was the first person I ever imagined having a life with, beyond the walls of this city. With everything going on in the world, nobody has time for romance anymore. It came to me anyway, and I couldn't believe how lucky I was."  
He shifted against her, and she adjusted her head to his new position.  
"We were the fireteam sent to kill Aksor, the Archon Priest. They'd sent dozens of fireteams of three. All of them failed, so they sent in our team of six. We were all young, fresh out of training, we had no idea what we were doing."  
"We spent hours tactically working together to kill him. We'd spread out a lot, become separated, but we had flawless communication. The hours passed and we were getting so tired."  
He paused for a while.  
"She saved my life. I got too close and the Archon ground slammed me. Threw me backwards and knocked me right on my ass. She saw him about to charge at me to finish me off, and threw a Nova Bomb straight at him. It was enough to stun him, but because of it she didn't see the Captain come up behind her. The others tried to warn her, but it was too late. The Captain threw her straight over the railing, and the fall damage was too much."  
He paused, his voice cracking at the end of his sentence.  
"Her ghost tried to resurrect her for hours, but to no avail. We couldn't do anything to help her."  
He let out a long breath. After a moment he felt her press up against him and her arm wrap tightly around him.  
"What an amazing thing she did for you." Lucy said quietly. Storm didnt answer, but squeezed her a little tighter, and the two lay together, deep in thought.

She was discharged later that afternoon. Storm helped Lucy limp back to her apartment.  
"Alright, you know the rules, Lucy. Stay off that damn leg. I'll be back later to check on you."  
"Thank you." She smiled at him, and he made his way to the door.  
"Storm?"  
"Lucy."  
"Tell Alex... Thank you."  
"Tell him yourself." Storm fist bumped the Hunter who had just arrived.  
Lucy shifted on the sofa to see Alex standing there.

"Hey!" Lucy said, a smile spreading across her face.  
"Lucy, glad you're doing alright." The Hunter grinned as he made his way over to sit down beside her. "How's it feeling?"  
She pulled the blanket off her leg so he could see the gruesome scar.  
Alex's face contorted. "Damn. That's gross."  
Lucy laughed. "Look, I'm sorry for what happened out there. I..."  
"Don't be sorry." Alex cut her off. "You were minding your own business and my presence threatened you. You did what any good Hunter would do."  
"Thank you for helping me." She smiled at him, and his heart jumped.  
"Anytime. And hey, I brought you something." his cheeky grin was back as he pulled some chocolates out from behind him.  
"Oh, you didn't have to..." she started.  
"I wanted to. A get well gift. After all, it looks like we'll all be spending a lot of time together in the future."  
"I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" she almost frowned.  
"Nope. You're stuck with us now." he grinned. "So, you want some company? I love this show." he grabbed the remote and slouched down into the sofa.


	7. Chapter 7

Three weeks.  
It had taken three long, painfully boring weeks to be cleared for active duty again.  
Alex and Storm had made it somewhat bearable. Storm had taken on a more practical caring role, always making sure she had plenty to eat, and that she was getting enough sleep. He scolded her multiple times for falling asleep on the sofa.  
Alex had become more of a friend, despite their rocky introduction. He had a seemingly endless supply of junk food, comics and old TV shows, and most afternoons he'd spend just hanging out with her.  
"Don't you have Crucible training?" she'd ask occasionally.  
He always had a vague reason for not going, and to her surprise she didn't really mind at all.  
She couldn't help but notice the silent competitive behaviour creeping up in them both, and it filled her with a sense of dread.  
Lucy did not do emotions.  
Not anymore.  
They were trying to impress her, please her, draw her to them and best each other.  
Being unable to take care of herself at home, Storm had moved back into the Exile house, and they had all insisted that she move in with them as well - "Till your leg heals." Alex had assured her.  
They'd given her a corner dorm on the sunny side of the complex. Out her window was a beautiful view of the city, and she could even see the Traveller if she looked up. Her room was nestled in between Alex and Lee's, and Storms was two doors down on the left.  
It was cosy enough, with a big bay window and a large bed with plushy pillows.  
She was out on the balcony, gazing down absentmindedly at the city. Storm and Alex were inside, debating something with very slightly raised voices.  
She cocked her head to listen.  
"I'm not saying it's a bad weapon, Alex. It's just not as good as mine." Storm was saying, and Lucy snorted.  
She never thought she could fancy a Titan, but in all honesty it had never crossed her mind. The two Titans on her old Fireteam had been together for centuries, and truth be told she'd never seen two people so in love. There was something sexy about Titans though, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was how big and strong they were. Occasionally if she took too long moving somewhere, Storm would pick her up with one arm and carry her to the destination. At first it was embarrassing, but now it was quite enjoyable - not that she'd ever admit it.

Hunters were a completely different story. They were very physical lovers, often a little agressive and played dirty behind closed doors. She would know, the Hunter on her Fireteam, Kevin, and her had spent many a cold night keeping each other warm.

That's all it had been though. In the midst of so much bloodshed and bullets, he was the physical she craved. He was the outlet, and he had a knack for fucking the bad feelings away.

But no matter how good the sex was, the warmth of his body against hers never lasted, and she would wake up as cold as she had been before. She wasn't sure why he never stayed, perhaps he had the same fears of loss as she did.

There was something about Alex that intrigued her just as much as Storm did, although she felt like it was more sexual chemistry than anything else. He'd find ways to touch her, press himself against her, and the smell of him made her lust after him. Through his playful advances though, he'd never given any clear signs, and she didn't dare make any of her own.

She'd never known love until the Warlock came along. He'd been right under her nose the entire time, serving faithfully alongside her, and she'd failed to notice. That was, until one day when he'd seen Kevin sneaking out of her room in the early hours.  
He'd challenged her the next morning.  
"Why do you do it?" He'd asked rather abruptly.  
"What?"  
"Kev."  
She'd stared at him with a face full of confusion mixed with guilt.  
"Don't know what you're talking about." She'd refused to hold his gaze. His forwardness had thrown her completely through a loop.  
"You do." He'd moved closer, and tilted her chin towards him. Her heart was racing. She'd been totally oblivious to his feelings for years. She almost felt bad about it, but this had been the first time he'd shown any kind of interest in her.  
The next few moments had been a blur, his lips against hers, tongue hot and pressing. She'd felt herself melt into his arms, and from that point on, they became inseparable.  
Losing him broke her heart.

The sudden tears pricking in her eyes snapped her back to reality, and Storm and Alex focussed back into her vision. The two were being nicer to each other now, Storm was aiming Alex's Last Word at the wall and Alex was giving him pointers.  
No emotions. She scolded herself. Now was not the time for love, or sex, or anything for that matter. Staying focussed right now was the important task.


	8. Chapter 8

"...and I'm pleased to report that you are now cleared for active duty." The doctor barely finished her sentence before Lucy yelped happily. She jumped up and ran out of the infirmary, the doctor open mouthed in surprise.

She sprinted around the Tower at top speed, blinking around corners, despite it being against the rules. It wasn't until she blinked around a corner and smacked head first into Cayde's chest, that she stopped, panting on the floor and laughing.  
The Exo reached an arm down and pulled her to her feet.  
"There's rules against doing that for a reason, but hell it looked like you were having fun." Cayde flashed her a robotic smile.  
"You have no idea how good it feels to finally be able to run again." she panted, catching her breath. She leaned against him for support. "I think I need to work out a bit more..."  
Cayde couldn't help but laugh at her. He hadn't seen her eyes sparkle like this for a very, very long time, and maybe, just maybe, this guardian, his guardian, wasn't completely lost after all.

"Cayde, you okay?" she frowned a little and tilted her head, staring at the Exo.

"What? Oh, yes." he paused. "You've always been my favourite, you know that? Shhhh. Don't tell anyone." he offered his arm and she linked hers with his. The two walked down towards the Hall of Guardians.

"I believe in you, Lucy. What's coming for us... it isn't pretty. But you've braved it once, and you're still standing. I know you can do it again."

She sighed, slowing her footsteps down to match his.

"I don't know, Cayde. Until I met the Exile Order I didn't think it would be possible to find a team who could support me. But I may have just gotten lucky."

"They're good people, Lucy. They've endured as much hardship and suffering as you. Trust them, and they in turn will trust you."

Lucy was silent for a moment before a quiet chuckle fell from her lips.

"I'm not used to this side of you, Cayde. Anyone would think you actually have feelings underneath all that metal." she poked at his chest and laughed again.

He unlinked his arm from hers as they approached Zavala and Ikora.

"Good to see you on your feet again, Hunter." Zavala said briskly. "But I'm afraid I'm about to throw you right back in the deep end." He looked like he was about to continue, when a voice interrupted behind him.

"We need the remnants of Crota's soul." Eris' voice dramatically pierced the air.

"What does that even mean?" Lucy whipped around to face the ex-Hunter.

"The only way to pass through the Rupture on the Dreadnaught is by becoming Ascendant. The only way to do this is to retrieve the remnants of Crota's soul."

"What are you asking me to do, Eris?" Her voice took a cold tone, and Cayde instinctively stepped closer to her.

"Go back down into the pit." Eris said simply, moving her crystal ball between her hands. "It is the only way."

There was a silence hanging in the air for a long moment, and it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

"No. Oh, no no no no no. Nuh-uh. This is not happening. No way." Lucy snapped suddenly, and backed out of the room. After a few steps, she turned on her heels and sprinted away.

"Lucy, wait...!" Cayde called after her, but she was long gone.

Storm and Alex saw her sprint past as they approached the Vanguard. They tried to make a grab for her, but she was too quick.  
They looked at their superiors, bewildered.

"The hell was that?" Storm asked, dreading the answer.

"We wanted to break it to her gently, until Eris ruined it." Zavala glared at her, but she was far too busy looking at the crystal in her hands.

"It would be foolish to waste time with feelings and sensitivity. Oryx will not wait." Eris muttered dramatically.  
Zavala filled the two men in on what they had missed.

"Why does it have to be Lucy? Could one of us not do it instead?" Alex pondered.

"I suppose there's no reason why it has to be her. But as the guardian who defeated him... I felt it to be appropriate." Ikora stated, as she sat down in a nearby chair.

"Either way, she can't go alone. She needs the both of you to go with her." Zavala added.

"How are we even going to convince her to go? She ran out of here faster than light." Storm asked.

Zavala sighed. "I don't know, but I need you to get this in motion. She's a strong guardian, her light will see her through. I strongly feel that she is the only one appropriate for such a mission."

"We'll see what we can do, I guess." Alex and Storm looked at each other, deflated.

This was not going to be easy.


	9. Chapter 9

"Honestly, I know Hunters are quick, but this is ridiculous." Storm muttered as he and Alex searched the Exile Apartments.

"I really doubt she'd come back here, Storm." Alex shouted from the other room.

"When did I become a babysitter? That's what I'd like to know." Storm scanned her room, but found it empty.

"She's not here. But I have a funny feeling I might be able to find her." Alex said from the doorway.

"Let's go then." Storm made for the door, but the Hunter put an arm out to stop him.

"Let me. I think I know how to deal with this."

Storm sighed.

"Just bring her back. Please. We are running out of time."

Touching down on Venus, Alex quickly made his way out to the Steppes once more. He slid quietly around each turn, being careful not to disturb the Vex wandering around.

Sure enough, when he got within earshot of the place he'd found her last, he heard the soft sound of her cries.

It broke his heart to hear her, her sobs coming in thick and fast, followed by her sniffling against her armour. He paused for a moment, unsure if he should proceed.

"I know you're there, Alex. Heard you coming half a mile off." She sniffled and tried to pull herself together before the Hunter timidly rounded the corner.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude... I just... I knew you'd be here..." he said quietly, moving beside her and sitting down.

"I can't do this anymore, Alex. I can't." She was trying to put on a tough front, but her voice was cracking relentlessly.

Alex stayed quiet, gazing off into the distance at the river flowing down the hillside. After a long silence, he put his arm around her shoulder.

He felt her stiffen at his contact, but instead of letting go, he pulled her harder into him until he felt her collapse on his chest.

"I cant..." she whimpered into his shoulder.

"You don't have to. We won't let you go alone." He soothed, running a hand up and down her back slowly.

"I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be the saviour of the world. I just want to go back." her sobs were coming hard and fast now, and he could barely understand her ramblings.

"Hey now. Nobody expects you do save the world alone." he murmured into her hair.

With one swift movement he swung her body over his lap, cradling her in his arms.

"We can do this. All of us. We are strong enough. You are strong enough." he rocked his body slowly.

She buried her face into his neck and her breath sent tingles rushing all through his body. She was quiet for a long time, her body occasionally heaving as she struggled to regain her composure. Her crying eventually slowed to a halt, and she drew her face back from his neck, keeping it rested on his shoulder.

He looked down at her and offered a half smile.

"Feel better?"

She shrugged against him.

He drew his head back further to attempt eye contact.

"Not even a little?"

He caught her attention this time and she looked up at him, her eyes locking on to his.

Before he knew it, his lips were against hers, his fingers entwined in her hair.

He felt her moan softly against his lips and his whole world melted. She was the only thing he could feel, her soft lips pulling him in harder. Her left hand clumsily found its way up to his face, and he kissed her harder. He needed her more desperately than he'd ever imagined.  
After what felt like forever, she was pulling away, and a soft sound of protest escaped him before he could stop it.

"I... I'm sorry." she whispered, stunned by what had just happened.

"Don't be..." he began, but she was already pulling herself up from his lap.

"I..." she stared at him a moment before picking up her helmet and sprinting out of the cave.

He got up to chase her, but stopped as he watched her blink at a rapid pace back up the steppes. A few seconds later she'd disappeared completely from his sight.

"Well, that wasn't the way to go about getting her home, was it?" Alex's ghost chirped, and the Hunter raised a hand to bat the robot out of the way.

"Not in the mood for a lecture." he snarled, standing up.

She sprinted. She blinked. And she ran, oh, so fast. She was exhausted from crying. She was exhilarated from the kiss. Her body was a collision of energy, threatening to burst out of her at any second.

"Lucy, you need to slow down." Dinkle could barely keep up with the speed she was setting.

"I'm fine." she yelled back to him.

"We need to get back home. You're pushing yourself to insanity."

"I need to burn off all this energy. I can't stand it anymore." she continued blinking around corners until she ran into a large collection of Vex Goblins. In what Dinkle could only describe as cinematic, she pulled her Blade Dance and within seconds, the Goblins were nothing more than shreds of arc energy on the ground.

"Phew. That's better." she laughed maniacally under her helmet. Now we can go home."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Light Smut ahead! I've never written this kind of thing before, so sorry if it sucks :/ Hope you're all enjoying the story!

The moment she arrived at the Tower she saw the Titan, and he was scowling.

That was never a good sign. She pulled her helmet off and tossed it into the ship before the door closed.

"Why the face, Storm? Get your ass kicked by another Hunter?" she smirked and folded her arms as the Titan stomped his way towards her.

"You've got to stop this goddamn running off crap that you do. Alex and I have been hunting you down all damn day. I've got better things to do than try to find a runaway every five minutes."

"Get lost, Storm. You aren't the boss of me." her voice dropped and her fists clenched as she held her ground against the Titan.

"When I'm told to find you and bring you back home, yes, I am the boss of you." He took a step towards her, closing the gap between them. Their eyes locked together, burning anger apparent in the two of them.

The standoff had attracted quite the crowd, and everyone stood staring in utter silence.

The Hunter suddenly took a swing with her left hand, but quick as lightning the Titan had caught her by the wrist. She squealed in anger, and her right arm came up for a swing in an attempt to make him let go. She'd played straight into his trap though, and he simply grabbed her other wrist. Her blood was boiling with rage now, as she used all her strength to try to break free.

"Let me go, Storm."

"No."

"I said, let me go!" she stomped down on his foot, hard, and it was almost enough to make him let go. He managed to keep a hold, clamping down on her tighter.

"I've had enough of you, and I've had enough of your goddamn attitude, Lucy. You've officially lost the plot." he growled and without warning twisted her so that her back was pressed up against his chest, her arms crossed in front of her.

"Now, walk." he muttered, pushing her forward with his body.

Defeated, she obeyed him, and he marched her up to the apartments.

Once inside, he pushed her into his room, where he let her go before shutting and locking the door.

"Now. We are going to sit in this room, and we are going to stay here, until we can work through whatever issues you've got going on here." Storm grabbed the chair from the corner of his room and sat on it backwards.

She was silent, instead standing in the far corner massaging her wrists.

"I'll stay here all day, if I have to." he broke the silence again.

"What do you want from me, Storm?" she threw her arms up, and began pacing the width of the room.

"Why is it every time we have something important to do, you flip out?"

"I don't flip out." she retorted.

"What do you call today?" he growled.

"I just needed to get out a bit. I'm fine. Totally fine." She was pacing wildly at this point.

"I know the Vanguard is asking a lot, making you go back down to the pit. But we have to. We have no choice." he attempted a softer approach, but she whipped around to face him, her eyes burning with a fury he'd never seen.

"Yes, Storm. I do have a choice. You expect me to go back to the place where every single damn person I cared about died? You want me to take a piece of the soul of the demon I destroyed with my own hand? At what cost, Storm? At what goddamn cost? What if you die? What if Alex dies? Am I just meant to sit and watch more people I care about die?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, breathing hard. She looked up at the Titan, the anger in her eyes dissipating.

"Nobody is going to die." he stood up and walked towards her. "We are there to protect you. I won't let anything happen to you." he was in front of her now.

"You can't promise that, Storm." she muttered, turning away from him.

He grabbed her by the waist and spun her towards him.

"Yes, I can."

"How?"

"Because..."

"Because why, Storm?" the anger was creeping back into her voice and she tried to yank herself away.

"Because I love you, that's why."

If her jaw could have hit the floor, it would have, and she stared at him for a moment, speechless.

"Y..you..." she stuttered, her brain unable to even find the words she wanted.

"No. No... it's not possible. I'm not loveable. Not anymore." she muttered, shaking her head.

He pushed her up against the wall and pinned her there with his own body.

"I'm not fucking kidding, Lucy." and with that, he pressed his lips to hers aggressively.

His actions surprised her, but despite it she found herself kissing him back. His breath was hot against her lips. He grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her head against the wall. After a moment he had the other hand pinned too, and she was completely defenceless against him.

Not that she really wanted him to stop...

...but Alex...

She pushed the thoughts immediately aside. No, she couldn't think about it right now. She still couldn't believe any of this was even happening.

Storm was biting and kissing hungrily at her neck, and she couldn't suppress the moan threatening to escape her lips.

Her world was spinning, adrenaline rushing through her veins.

Storm picked her up and threw her down on the bed, pulling at her various pieces of armour until one by one they were gone. He hastily removed his own, with a speed that actually impressed her as she watched.

He dropped on top of her with a thump, his lips hungrily returning to hers like he'd been waiting to kiss her for months. She instinctively wrapped her legs tight round his hips, feeling his hardness against her for the first time. She gasped at what she felt, fearing his sheer size for a moment.

She needn't have worried, as the next moment he slipped inside of her, filling her up, any trace of pain was overwritten by an indescribable feeling of ecstasy. She let a long, soft moan escape her, and was rewarded by another thrust, followed by another, and another, and another...

She'd never been fucked so hard before in her life, not even by the Hunter she used to spend cold nights with years ago. His aggression was oddly sexy, he was rough, but caused her no pain, he was dominant and had her completely under his control. Every inch of his body was working toward one goal - her pleasure - and she'd never felt anything like it before.

She had no idea how much time had really passed - but it felt like hours - when their bodies finally exploded together in uncontrollable ecstasy. It wasn't until then that his pace slowed, and his aggressive loving became gentler, and more tender.

He hovered over her a while longer, lazily thrusting and biting at her lips, before eventually lying down beside her.

She lay beside him, stunned. She tried to speak on several occasions, but nothing came to her.

Mind spinning, she closed her eyes, just for a moment. They didn't open again, and Storm realised she'd dropped into a light sleep.

The Titan lay beside her, idly watching her as she took shallow breaths.

What the hell had come over him?

His own words had surprised him, truthfully, and when he found himself saying the 'L' word, he truly had no idea if he'd meant it or not.

She was not just a random hookup.

But she wasn't Michelle, either. How could a mentally unstable Hunter replace the gorgeous, gentle and calm personality of the Warlock he'd loved so much?

He didn't know.

But he had meant it. He did love her.

Somehow.


	11. Chapter 11

Most of this chapter is focussed on the game's story mission, Last Rites. If for some unknown reason you've never done this mission, go do it before you read!

She woke up in her own room of the Exile apartments many hours later. She sat bolt upright, the afternoon sun beating down through the open windows.

It was all coming back to her now.

Storm.

"Ah, god damn it." she muttered as she stood up, more than a little sore from her adventures with the Titan.

"Are you alright?" Dinkle beeped at her from his spot on the shelf.

"Don't pretend like you don't know, Dinkle."

"I'm just a robot, Guardian. I possess no ability to judge."

"Aren't I lucky." she said sarcastically, pulling on one of her Bones of Eao boots. "We need to go to the Vanguard."

"You're going to take the mission?" Dinkle asked as she pulled on the other boot and fastened it.

"I have no choice. Lord knows why I'm always the one who has to do these stupid things. But if I have to, I have to."

She stood upright and fastened her Dead Orbit chest piece. "Come on."

"Lucy! I wasn't expecting to see you." Ikora looked shocked to see the Hunter coming into the room.

"Yeah, well. I heard you needed someone to go steal a soul and for whatever reason you thought it'd be a great idea to make the one person who suffered the most at his hand go and get it."

Her sarcasm stung everyone in the room, and even Cayde felt bad.

"I know it's a lot to ask." He stepped forward and put an arm around his Hunter. "But it's the only way to get to Oryx."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get it over with." she pulled out of his grasp and trudged out of the room. "Have my team at my ship at first light tomorrow." she called over her shoulder.

She hardly slept that night. Her dreams were fraught with memories of her old fireteam, Crota, and now Storm, and Alex.

Alex.

Poor fricking Alex.

She had feelings for him, undoubtedly, maybe moreso than Storm. She had a chance to stop Storm, to say no, but she didn't.

Alex did not deserve that. Neither had he deserved her running out on him.

It wasn't that she didn't want him to kiss her.

It was the fact that she was standing a foot from Brucie's grave that got to her.

She didn't want to love anyone else. Nobody else could even love her like he had.

But it would be a lie if she said that the loneliness of late hadn't gotten to her. And unfortunately, both of them had picked the exact same time to make their move.

 _Could have at least waited more than 24 hours to get involved with both of them,_ she pondered, silently scolding herself. Storm hadn't been a mistake, rather just a case of bad timing. The problem now was the inevitable choice she had to make.

Though right now, she had to focus on the job at hand. And hope like hell that neither Guardian found out that she'd been involved with them both.

At first light, she was on her ship and ready to head back to the pit. Dinkle and the other ghosts had been updated with special cloaking technology to help them sneak through Crota's old chambers, which were still filled with Hive. The brief was straight forward - sneak up to Crota's coffin, drink the soul, run away. Easy.

She let a large sigh out as she heard the familiar stomping of the Titan coming up the ramp.

"Hey, Lucy." the Titan said uncertainly as he stepped inside the ship.

"Morning, Storm." she avoided eye contact with him but attempted to sound cheerful.

"Lucy, glad you're alright. After you ran off earlier I..." Alex began as he walked inside.

Lucy leapt to her feet and cut him off before he could continue.

"Let's just get going, eh?" she pushed the Hunter to his seat.

"Wait...what happened?" Storm questioned, his brow furrowing.

"Nothing, Storm. Let's just focus on the mission." She stabbed at a few buttons and put Dinkle at the controls.

"We're going to talk about this later..." Storm grumbled.

"Probably not." her words sliced the awkwardness mounting in the air.

"Alright, Guardians. Let's hope this works. Cloaking."

A moment later, all three were invisible.

"I can't see you. Can you see me?"

"Shush, Dinkle. Let's go." Lucy whispered.

"Keep your distance. They can't see you, but they can still smell you. We can replace Eris's ship, but we can't replace you." Cayde's voice came through Dinkle.

"Cross the chasm. Enter their world." Eris was saying dramatically as the three crept forward, slowly, quietly, hardly daring to breathe.

"A tomb husk. I'll grab it." Lucy carefully reached for the ball, and waited for the large Ogre to stomp past her.

"Careful. I hope they can't see this thing." Dinkle beeped.

"Now." Lucy commanded.

The three crept forward and she placed the husk in the slot. The bridge began to form.

They crept past the remaining Hive.

"You think they heard that?"

"Dinkle, would you shut the hell up!" Lucy hissed.

"The Deathsingers! They are preparing Crota's soul for the next realm. Follow their cry." Eris's dramatic voice broke the silence as they ran down a long hallway.

Things were starting to look very familiar to Lucy once again, and her heart started beating harder and harder. Her breath caught in her throat.

"You okay?" Storm looked over to her.

"Y...yeah.." she managed to stutter. "We have to jump down here." she commented as they approached a large hole.

The two boys jumped down, and Lucy followed, landing softly behind them.

"Look ahead." Alex murmured.

"There are a lot of tombs here. How do we find Crota's?" Dinkle inquired of Eris.

"You'll know it when you see it."

"Well, it's gotta be that one." Lucy said sarcastically, pointing to the one in the center of the platform.

"I think we've found it." Dinkle whispered as Lucy crept up slowly, avoiding the swordbearers walking around. She'd encountered them before, and knew better than to trifle with them again.

"Now drink deep from Crota's death essence." Eris commanded.

"How much do we need?"

"Just a taste."

"I've got it." Lucy whispered as she backed away. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than her cloaking deactivated. Horrified, she looked over at Alex and Storm, who had also lost their cloaking.

"Something's wrong. We're exposed!" Dinkle yelled suddenly, alarm apparent in his little robotic voice.

"Lock for transmat! Get out of there!" Cayde yelled.

"We must have Crota's soul!"

"I've got it Eris! It's fine!" Lucy was suddenly swarmed by taken thrall on either side of the platform.

"They've got enough! Lock for transmat, Ghost!" Cayde yelled again. His voice sounded distorted, and Lucy began to panic. She shot wildly at the thrall, but their teleporting was causing her to miss.

"I can't! Everything is corrupted!" Dinkle's voice sounded distorted too, frightening Lucy even more. "I can't connect! Stay alive, guardians. We've got to make it back!"

Lucy was still relentlessly fighting the Thrall, and Storm and Alex were trying to help, though they were a little more preoccupied with the Taken Hobgoblins firing at them. In the middle of the fray a Thrall hit out at her, knocking her weapon from her hands. She screamed in distress.

"Lucy, JUMP!" Storm yelled at the top of his lungs, and without hesitation she obeyed. In an instant a truth rocket flew under her feet, eliminating the Thrall that had been swarming her moments before. She landed a second later, and scrambled to pick up her weapon, tears streaming down her face under her helmet. She could barely see where she was going, but somehow she made it over to the safety of Storm and Alex. She leaned up against the wall and slid down, uncontrollably sobbing and shaking. Alex ran over to her while Storm kept shooting at their attackers.

"Lucy, Lucy, I need you to hold it together!" Alex held her face in his hands.

"I... I can't! I can't!" she whimpered, clutching onto his arms. He pulled her back to her feet.

"We can do this. We have to. We have to make it out of here!" He let go of her and ran to the door to fire off a tether, just as an Ogre and a Centurion appeared.

"We're screwed." Hellstorm yelled, firing a truth rocket in the Ogre's direction.

Suddenly, Eris's voice chanted loudly. "Guardians, come with me."

"What's happening?" Alex yelled as he pushed Lucy back behind him to defend her from a charging invisible Minotaur.

"Come...with...me..." Eris continued to chant.

And suddenly, the three of them were teleported away, back to where they'd originally started.

"What just happened?" Storm spun around, confused and disoriented.

"It was the best I could do with so little time." Eris's voice came clearly through Dinkle.

"You pulled us out." Dinkle said incredulously.

"One of Toland's tricks. There is nothing I fear more than the Dark, but I will not lose another Guardian."

Lucy collapsed to the ground, shocked and relieved. Storm and Alex knelt down beside her.

"You've imprisoned the last whisper of Crota's soul. It is left to you now. Find Oryx on the Dreadnaught. Destroy him." and with that, Eris signed off.

"Let's get home, Otto." Storm commanded his Ghost.

Alex helped her to her bunk when they boarded the ship, and she closed the sliding door to her bunk immediately. The boys moved to their quarters on the other side of the ship to give her space.

"Think she's okay?" Alex asked, shutting the door.

"No, Alex. She's definitely not okay." Storm snapped as he took off his armour.

"No need to bite." Alex retaliated defensively.

"Sorry. Stressful day." He lay down on the bed, relieved to finally be out of that nightmare.

"What did you mean when you said earlier that Lucy ran off earlier?"Storm broke the long, awkward silence as he heard Alex shuffle in the bunk above him.

"Oh, uh, I found her. On Venus. The same place I found her when we first met."

"What?" Storm said in disbelief. "You found her and you didn't tell me?" Storm sat upright.

He heard Alex climb down from his bunk as the ship bumped to a stop, indicating the end of their journey.

"I um..." Alex hesitated. "I kissed her, and...and she ran off, and then I felt guilty for preying on her in her vulnerable state, and... I didn't know what to do." The Hunter looked at the Titan with woeful eyes, and Storm would have felt pity if he wasn't so angry.

"You did what?" His voice rose.

"It...it was nothing, honestly. I was wrong." the Hunter headed for the door, but when he reached the docks he felt a rough push from behind. In a split second Storm had him slammed up against a wall.

"Don't fucking touch her again." He seethed, locking eyes with Alex.

"What in the hell is your problem, Storm?" Alex wrenched free from his grip, and shoved him backwards.

"My problem is you, getting involved with MY girl." he growled.

"YOUR girl?" Alex laughed. "Since when?"

"Since now. Back off, or there's gonna be trouble."

"You don't get to call the shots here, brother." All the rage built up in the small Hunter was starting to boil over now.

He only just managed to dodge the first swing Storm took, but the second got him square in the jaw.

"Oh hell no..." he muttered, charging at the Titan.

Before long, they were engaged in a full on fist fight in the middle of the Tower docks. Swing after swing was thrown, and they had started quite the commotion. Amanda Holliday ended up paging the Vanguard, fearing for the safety of the dock workers.

"What in the HELL is going on?"

The two men suddenly stopped mid fight, Storm holding Alex by the collar, and Alex about to take his best swing yet.

"Put him down, Storm." Lucy's tone was not kidding around. He hesitated and obeyed, before pushing Alex backwards. Alex took offense to this, and charged at the Titan again.

Lucy ran down between the two and forced them apart, almost getting a fist to the head in the process.

"I said, STOP!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Now. What the hell has gotten into you guys? You're best friends, for crying out loud!" she looked at both of them, but neither offered a response.

"Really? You're both going to just stand there?"

"What the hell is going on here?" Lucy was interrupted by a loud, booming voice above her. She knew without looking that it was Zavala, and she cringed.

"Lucy, why is it that whenever there's a scene, you're right in the middle of it?" Zavala sure did sound angry, but she didn't move.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Zavala." she answered.

"Get to your quarters, the three of you. You are all on lockdown until further notice." he yelled. "Now, everyone get back to your duties. There's nothing to see here!"

Without hesitation, the three of them quickly dispersed. Lucy headed up to her old apartment, rather than going back to the Exile suite. She had a suspicion that the fist fight had something to do with her, though she hoped she was wrong.

Cayde was waiting for her outside her door.

"Why the long face, babygirl?" He asked quietly.

She sighed as the Exo pulled her into a hug.

"I don't know, Cayde. Today was awful. We would have died without Eris. And...and I don't know what's going on with Storm and Alex that they would fight like that..."

She felt like crying, but tried to avoid it.

"I know your world is a mess right now. But you did an incredible thing today." he started rubbing her back with one hand.

"I just... I don't know how much more of this I can take." she whimpered, trying ever so hard not to cry.

"You know I'm not going to judge you for crying, little one." he soothed.

"Crying is for the weak." she muttered.

"You know that isn't true. I cry all the time. Usually when Eris says mean things to me." Cayde joked, and laughed as he felt her giggle on his shoulder.

"You always know how to make me feel better. I'm lucky to have you as my mentor." Lucy smiled as she pulled out of his grasp.

"Now, go inside, get some sleep, and in the morning, I'll get Zavala to lift your ban."

"Thank you, Cayde."


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you for the positive reviews so far! I really appreciate it. Thank you to phantomslayer230 for the fist fight idea... it was a perfect way to create some tension between the boys!**

 **This next chapter will focus on the story mission, Regicide. In this story, however, there will be all six characters present for this story mission instead of just three. -**

"I hope you guys have resolved whatever that bullshit was yesterday." Lucy was facing the Hunter and the Titan, as they prepared to touch down once more on the Dreadnaught.

The Hunter and Titan simply glared at each other.

"We'll be fine." Storm growled, folding his arms across his broad chest.

"You'd better be. Whatever issues are going on, you leave them at the door." she flung her arm out to her right, pointing at the cabin door. "I need you both 100% focussed and 100% ready to work together."

At that moment, her ship jolted to a stop, and she almost fell over.

"Jesus." she muttered, just managing to reach out and grab a solid object, which just so happened to be Lee.

"Ah, sorry Lee." she looked up at him apologetically.

"No harm done, love." he kept a firm grasp on her for a moment to make sure she was steady.

"Alright, team. Time to go."

They all headed out onto the Dreadnaught, carefully surveying for any nearby enemies.

"Okay. Alex, take point with me. We'll scout ahead, see what we're dealing with. Titans, take the rear, Warlocks, stay in the middle. Let's go."

She caught Storm's eye as she finished giving out her instructions, and she could tell he wasn't happy with her call.

Too bad. Now was not the time for petty bullshit.

They carefully made their way through several large rooms and passageways, navigating through swarms of Hive, Cabal, and Taken, until they stumbled upon a large room with the shell of a portal in the center.

"Move on up, guys." Lucy commanded the rest of the team, as she and Alex crouched in a nearby corner.

"Oh, shit..." Alex breathed as an enormous Taken Centurion and Hive Ogre appeared out of nowhere.

"Tether!" Lucy yelled, and both the Hunters hit their enemies dead on.

Without missing a beat, Dylan came charging forward between the Hunters.

"Dylan! Watch out!" Lucy yelled, just as he sent a massive ball of void energy hurtling towards their attackers.

It was nowhere near strong enough to wipe them out, but it did successfully wipe out many of the smaller enemies, making it easier for the Guardians to focus.

Suddenly, the Ogre came charging forward towards the two Hunters.

"Watch out! Alex yelled, turning on his heels to run back towards his companions.

"Bubble!" she heard Storm yell out in the background, and without hesitation she shadestepped backwards, landing safely in the bubble.

After many long, gruelling minutes, they watched as the Ogre and Centurion finally fell down at their feet, dead.

"Phew." Lucy breathed as she dropped down to the ground, exhausted. Jason and Lee were already lying down, panting. She rested her head on Jason's belly after pulling off her helmet.

"Well that was intense." Storm puffed as he slid his back down a nearby wall and sat down.

"We did good." Lucy raised her arm over her head and pulled a thumbs up. "We did good." she repeated, chuckling to herself.

"You feeling okay, Luce?" Jason lifted his head off the ground to look at her.

She didn't answer, but instead got up and reattached her helmet.

"We gotta keep going."

"Yeah, she's right. If we stop now, we won't make it through the night." Lee agreed as he stood up.

"Alright, this is it." Lucy stood in front of the glowing portal.

"So, we just...step into it?" Dylan looked unsure.

"Well, apparently that crap I drank a few days ago should be enough for all of us to get through." Lucy answered the Warlock. "Here goes nothing, I guess."

She grasped on to Alex and Storm's hands, and stepped through. She wasn't prepared for the strange churning feeling in her gut, or the intense spinning feeling, but at least it was over quickly.

"Well, that was...weird." She heard someone mutter as they all popped through the other side.

"Let's move. Alex, let's scout ahead." Lucy kept her voice low and the two Hunters quickly disappeared from sight.

"Holy crap, it's dark." Alex murmured as they rounded a corner.

"Shit!" Lucy squealed as a bright line of light suddenly skimmed under her feet, heading towards a large door.

"Well this isn't dramatic, or anything." Alex watched as the door slowly started to light up, revealing Oryx's sigil.

The rest of the Guardians caught up as the doors slowly started opening.

"Oh, dear God..." Lucy heard Jason mumble as the six set eyes on Oryx for the first time.

"MOVE!" Lucy yelled, and the six paired off and scattered around the room.

They fought tirelessly with the Taken King, exhaustion slowly setting in on all of them.

"Almost there!" Lucy yelled, breathlessly trying to reload her weapon.

"What the hell!?" Storm was yelling as the six were suddenly surrounded by a white mist.

"Ah! I can't see!" Lee stumbled around behind the two Hunters.

"Holy crap, look out!" Alex yelled suddenly, as Oryx appeared, swinging his sword violently through the mist.

Everyone only just managed to avoid being sliced in half.

"Keep going! We're almost there!" Lucy yelled as she stabbed a taken in the face.

"Now!" Alex yelled, firing a tether as Oryx struck through the middle of them once more.

Unfortunately, his tether missed, but the mist suddenly cleared, and suddenly, with a loud roar and a blinding flash of light, the Guardians watched in horror and amazement as Oryx suddenly disappeared from sight.

The Guardians stood silent for a moment, shocked.

"Did he just...take himself?" Storm asked after a long silence.

"I have no clue..." Dylan muttered.

"Otto, are you getting this?" Storm activated his Ghost.

"Affirmative." Otto beeped.

"Let's do a sweep of the area. Maybe he's still here." Storm spun around to investigate the door.

"Luce, you okay?" Lee turned to the Hunter when he heard her make a strange gurgling noise.

The boys all turned their attention to her. She was visibly shaking.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Storm moved over to her, and reached out to take her gun out of her hands before she dropped it.

"Wh-what's happening..." she stuttered, before she fell to her knees.

"Lucy!" Alex rushed to her, crouching in front of her. As he reached out to touch her, she suddenly let out a pained yell, hitting out at Alex and sending him flying.

"Woah, shit!" Jason yelped, leaping out of her way before she could charge at him.

"Lucy! What the hell has gotten into you?!" Storm moved towards her.

She growled, her fists clenching. As soon as he was within arms reach, she took a swing. He was used to this kind of behaviour from her, however, and easily dodged her.

"A little help here?!" He yelped, desperately trying to avoid taking a fist to the face.

The others rushed forward, and after a long scuffle they managed to pin her to the ground. She was wild and screaming, yelling incoherent strings of words they'd never heard before.

Alex had her left arm pinned, while Jason had her right, Lee and Dylan had her legs held down tight. Once they had her secure, Storm reached up and pulled off her helmet.

They were all stunned at what they saw. She was almost rabid, foaming at the mouth. Her eyes had changed to a shade of pure black and she looked, quite frankly, terrifying.

"Jesus." Alex breathed, and Storm stared blankly for a minute.

"Get Eris for me, Otto." Storm commanded his Ghost. The robot beeped in acknowledgement.

"Holy shit, do you understand how strong she is?" Jason said as he almost lost control of her arm.

"What the hell is happening?" Cayde's voice crackled clearly through Otto.

"It's Lucy, Cayde. It's like she's possessed. We have her subdued, but honestly we don't know how long we can hold her."

"Show me." Cayde responded, pulling up a screen in the middle of the Vanguard table.

The Vanguard watched closely for a moment.

"That is an adverse reaction to the Ascendant Essence." Eris murmured suddenly.

"Well what do we do?" Cayde whipped around to face his fellow Hunter.

"There is not a lot to be done. She must be confined, and wait until the sickness leaves her."

"Storm, can you get her back to the Tower? We can attempt to treat her there." Cayde turned back to the broadcast and watched in horror as the boys struggled to contain her.

"Uh... we can try... But she's seriously about to kick the crap out of all of us, and we outnumber her five to one."

"Tie her up if you need to. You need to get her home safe. I'll have people waiting at the Infirmary dock. Cayde out."

Cayde facepalmed and turned to Zavala. "If it's not one thing, it's another." he sighed.

"It isn't your fault, Cayde. It's not her fault either. Nobody could have predicted this." The Titan tried to console his friend.

"I agree, Cayde. This isn't anyone's fault." Ikora added.

 **-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Alright. We need to get her restrained. Anyone got some rope?" Storm turned back to the group, who were still fighting wildly to maintain control.

"In my pack, Storm." Alex offered, adjusting his grip on her arm.

Storm rifled through the pack nearby, and found what he needed.

"Okay. I need you guys to sit her up. We'll get her legs first, then her arms."

The boys obeyed, and Storm began carefully binding her legs. This proved to be a rather difficult task, as she was moving so violently and with such force it was difficult to get a binding tight enough to hold her without causing her pain.

"Do they know what's wrong with her?" Lee asked as he released her now tied leg.

"It's the ascendant essence she drank. Eris said only time would get it out of her system. Like a virus, I guess." Storm replied as he began working on binding her wrists. As he twisted the rope, the boys suddenly felt her go limp.

"What's happening...please..." she whimpered suddenly, looking helplessly up at the boys.

"Lucy? Lucy...it's alright..." Alex attempted to calm her down, stroking her cheek.

"Aghhh, it hurts..." tears spilled down her cheeks.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry."

After a few more seconds, her whimpers turned into growls again.

"Back up, Alex." Storm warned, sensing his danger being at such close proximity to her.

"I'm fine, Storm." Alex snapped at the Titan.

"I said, back off." Storm's tone changed suddenly, but Alex still ignored him.

"Guys. Stop it." Lee interrupted before the fists started flying. "Let's just get the hell out of this place and get her back safe.

The two men broke their stare at one another and moved away.

"I'll carry her to the ship. Storm, get Otto to dock over here. This whole area is open." Lee took charge to avoid any more disagreements.

Lee struggled to keep a tight grip on her as he carried her up to the ship.

"It hurts..." she whimpered against him as he boarded.

"I know. I know." he laid her down on her bunk and tied her wrists to the wall, just in case she got clever. He wasn't about to take any chances.

The trip back was uneventful. Once they docked at the Infirmary, half a dozen doctors whisked her away. The boys gazed off after her, unable to follow.

"What do we do now?" Alex broke the silence.

"Everyone go home. I'll stay here and wait." Storm answered.

"I'll wait too."

"No. There's no need." Storm's voice changed as the young Hunter challenged him yet again.

"You don't get to dictate what I can and cannot do, Storm." Alex challenged, locking eyes with the Titan.

"You really wanna do this here?" Storm grabbed him by the collar.

"Guys! Knock it off!" Lee suddenly shoved the two apart. "What the hell is your problem right now? Lucy is in a critical condition, and all you guys care about is fighting with each other."

The two men backed away from each other, saying nothing.

"Good. Now. If you both promise to not be jackasses, you can stay. If not, you can both leave and I'll stay."

"Fine." Storm answered weakly. "We can both stay."

"Keep us updated." Lee glared at both of them, before leaving for home.


	13. Chapter 13

Hours passed, and the Hunter and the Titan remained in the infirmary, patiently waiting. At one point, Alex disappeared, and Storm flashed a triumphant smirk. However, to his dismay, the Hunter had simply gone to get coffee, and even handed him a cup. The act of kindness had surprised Storm, considering what an asshole he'd been since he found out about the kiss.

A voice interrupted his train of thought, and he leapt to his feet.

"Sir? I have an update for you regarding Miss Lucy..." a Warlock was speaking.

"Yes...yes I've been waiting..." Storm stuttered slightly.

"Same here." Alex piped up beside him, and Storm rolled his eyes. "How is she doing?" Alex continued.

"Well, according to the information provided by Eris, she is suffering an adverse reaction to the remnants of Crota's soul that she came into contact with a few days ago. It seems to be like a non-contagious virus. It's causing hallucinations, foaming at the mouth, discolouration of her eyes, and appears to be affecting her behaviour as well. She goes through bouts of extreme violence and anger, but every so often she returns to moments of clarity, where she begs for help and cries out in pain."

"Jesus." Storm breathed. _This girl really cannot catch a break._

"We're doing the best we can for her, but according to Eris, all we can do is let it run its course. We have no cure for something we've never seen before." The Warlock continued. "We've got her loaded with enough sedative to flatten a rhino, but even that isn't doing well at keeping her down. We have her fully restrained, but she's already broken three of them, and replacing them is a mission. On top of all that, we have her on high doses of morphine to try and relieve any pain she's feeling."

The Warlock finished her speech, and looked uncertainly at the two Guardians, who looked visibly distressed.

"I can promise you both that she is safe here, and will be back to her old self very soon." she attempted to comfort the men.

"Thank you, Doctor." Storm said quietly, and sat back down on the floor.

"What's the next step?" Alex asked the Warlock.

"Well, apart from just waiting, we're waiting for the sickness to 'break', so to speak. Once that happens, we plan to put her in an induced coma to let her body recover from the trauma. I know it sounds bad, but it's the safest way to make sure she hasn't suffered any serious damage."

"And you'll tell us if anything changes?" Alex sat down opposite Storm.

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you."

The Warlock excused herself, and the two men locked gazes for a split second.

Neither of them knew what to say.

It was Storm that eventually broke the silence.

"Look, it's getting really late. We should head home and get some rest so that we can be back early in the morning."

The Hunter hesitated, before slowly nodding his head. The two got up and headed back to the apartments in silence.

"Any news?" Lee asked from the kitchen as the boys came in the front door.

"It's bad, but she should be ok in the long run." Storm replied, reaching for a sandwich Lee had just made.

"Hey! That's mine!" Lee slapped his hand away, and Storm laughed.

"Sorry."

Storm moved around to the kitchen to make his own food, and decided to make Alex something as well. He'd probably been a little too hard on the Hunter. After all, he had no idea that Storm was in love with her. And he had a right to fall for anyone he wanted, too. It was just unfortunate they'd both gone for the same girl.

Thoughts of uncertainty and worry plagued Storm, as he carefully began making the sandwiches. This girl, this beautiful, smart and stubborn Hunter was lying in a hospital bed and all he could think about was how in love he was with her... how he could stop someone else from capturing her heart...

He was selfish.

The conflicting thoughts continued as he brought the sandwich over to Alex, who looked up at him gratefully.

"Thanks..."

"You're welcome."

He sat down and idly munched on the food before him.

What if she didn't love him back?

What if she'd just wanted the physical contact?

Oh god, what if he'd been bad in the bedroom? They hadn't spoken of it since it happened. Not that there was a whole lot of time to, but still...

He banished the thoughts from his mind.

He got up and headed to his room. Maybe some sleep would do him good...

He fell asleep just moments after his head hit the pillow.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Unfortunately, a couple of rooms over, Alex was not so lucky in his attempts to fall asleep. His mind was churning in a similar fashion to Storms - though he didn't know the full extent of Storms situation, he was in a less complicated spot, at least.

He raked his fingers through his hair and sighed as he rolled over for the hundredth time. He was generally a very happy, easy going man, but this whole disaster with Storm and Lucy was bringing out the worst in him. He didn't want to be that way, and he especially didn't want her to think that he was this petty, this...childish.

But he had no idea where he stood with her anymore. She'd run off on him after just a kiss - though, looking back on it, he realised how insensitive he'd been, preying on her in such a vulnerable state, on the grave of her dead lover. But, he reasoned, it wasn't like she hadn't kissed him back. She had, and she'd enjoyed it, even for just a fleeting moment.

He scolded himself for thinking of such unimportant things at a time like this. She needed all the support she could get right now. He sighed, and rolled over once again.

Maybe tomorrow, things would be better.


	14. Chapter 14

[A/N: In this particular story, the rebellion is a small group of guardians scattered across the galaxy who didn't like the leadership of the Speaker, and the way certain political issues were being handled amongst the vanguard. So they rebelled and set up their own leadership. The Vanguard has bounties on the retrieval of these guardians.]

Tomorrow, things weren't better.

The boys woke after hours of restless sleep. They threw on rumpled civilian gear, and flashed one another half-assed smiles of recognition before trudging up to the infirmary.

Overnight they'd put the machines on her, tubes down her throat, in her nose, lines in her arms and hands. Storm had to look twice to make sure she was even under all that equipment.

This definitely didn't look better.

"She's doing great." The Warlock from the previous day appeared behind them, startling them both. They spun around to face her.

"I know it looks bad, but I promise it isn't. Her body just needs time to recover. The things she's gone through lately... they've all just been too much for such a small Hunter."

"Squishy little Hunters." Storm murmured, a hint of a smile creeping across his face. Lucy hated it when he said that. His smile faded almost as fast as it appeared, as the Warlock continued.

"She just needs a lot of rest right now. If you want to stay, they say that unconscious people can sometimes still hear. Talk to her, if you want."

The boys nodded, and moved towards the bed as the Warlock excused herself. The two awkwardly sat down on either side of her, Storm carefully taking one of her hands in his.

"Uh, hey there, Lucy..." Storm felt entirely stupid.

"Its us, Alex and Storm..." Alex put in.

"I'm sure she knows that." Storm snipped, and Alex glared at him.

"We uh... we just wanted to come and check up on you...you know... it's been horrible, the last couple of days. You just can't seem to catch a break, can you?" Storm brushed a hand across her cheek.

Alex was about to say something when there was a ruckus outside.

"Uh, we should go see..." Alex started to say and the two rushed outside, carefully closing the door.

Cayde and the Speaker were blocking the way of an unknown person, who seemed rather determined to get past them.

"Woah, Mr Speaker? Cayde? What's going on?"

"Oh...nothing, just someone supposedly back from the dead is all..." Cayde responded in his usual sarcastic manner. The boys moved on either side of the Speaker and Cayde and came face to face with a Hunter.

A Hunter who looked, incredibly, like a duplicate of Lucy.

"What the fuck..." Alex whispered.

"Uh, yeah. So, hmmm. How do we explain this one..." Cayde looked at the Speaker, who was at a loss for words.

The little Hunter before them folded her arms.

"This is Alison." Cayde began. "Alison...well I'm sure you can tell - she's Lucy's daughter.

"DAUGHTER?" Storm recoiled, hard, yelling a lot louder than he'd really intended.

"Daughter." The Speaker repeated in a low voice.

"Alison here, was presumed dead shortly after her mother fought Crota. She was on a recon mission with her fireteam when their ship was jumped by Fallen. All three Ghost signals were lost, and there was presumed to be no survivors." Cayde looked at the boys.

"Look. I can explain everything..." Alison unfolded her arms and raised them in surrender. "It's a long story, I admit, but I will tell you, if you would all kindly stop treating me like a criminal, and let me see my mother."

"Let her." Storm said after a long silence.

"Are you sure? We have no idea..." The Speaker turned to the Titan.

"I'm sure." he said firmly, looking at Alison. "Go."

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"I hope you know what you're doing, Titan." Cayde's usually upbeat tone was dark.

"I don't, but I also don't believe that she shouldn't be allowed to see her own mother." Storm's mind was spinning, and he could barely form coherent sentences.

"Who the hell is her father?" Alex spluttered, saying exactly what Storm had been thinking.

"His name was Brucie, he was a Warlock. He died helping her fight Crota. As far as we know, she gave birth shortly before that, so Alison never really knew him." The Speaker answered.

"She can't have been very old." Storm murmured.

"No. She was very young. But with an altered lifespan, humans have evolved to grow very quickly and live much longer than in the old times."

"Why did nobody tell us about this? It wasn't in her files." Storm turned to Cayde.

"The loss of Brucie alone nearly killed her. Then her daughter disappears just weeks later. We couldn't bring ourselves to tell her that her daughter was dead, so we..." Cayde hesitated.

"You what?" Alex hissed, not liking where this was going.

"We told her she joined the rebellion. We knew it would hurt, but ultimately, it would be less painful than the loss of her child entirely. And that's why she was always on recon work, alone, because she always vowed she'd find her child."

"I don't see your fucking logic in that." Storm could feel his anger rising.

"I did join the rebellion." A voice behind them made them all spin around, Cayde even reaching for his weapon.

"But not for the reasons you might think!" She stepped back when she saw Cayde's defensive movements.

"Then explain." The Speaker's voice remained even.

"Okay. So you guys sent me out on my second recon mission...to Mars. Everything was fine. Until we were getting ready to leave. This...Fallen Skiff...it came out of nowhere. They were Wolves, and we weren't prepared. Cait and Frank...they were just cannon fodder. I didn't even have a split second to try and help them, let alone save them. So I ran. My ghost was damaged. His uplink was shattered. I kept on running and running, until I just couldn't anymore. I found myself an abandoned cave, and I just stayed there. I was shell shocked. I had no access to my ship, no companions, nothing. Just sand. So much fucking sand."

Her voice cracked a little and she sat down on the step, the rest of the men following suit.

I guess I fell asleep, because the next thing I know, I'm waking up to guns in my face. I thought it was the Cabal at first, but then I realised they were Guardians. But there was something off about them. I couldn't figure out what, until they led me to their base, in a completely abandoned area of Mars. Some Old World train station type thing... It was then that I realised they were the Rebellion."

She paused, and sighed.

"I knew, that if I could get them to trust me, they'd fix my Ghost, and I'd have a blind shot of getting out of there. A couple of weeks ago, they finally approved me to go on recon missions. After a few of those, I finally got a chance to slip away in the heat of battle, and I was lucky enough to run into a group of Guardians on patrol. I told them I'd become lost and I needed help getting home. They brought me here. One of them mentioned my mother, and how she was in a very bad way. I knew I had to come home."

There was silence as her story drew to a close.

"How do we know you aren't a double agent? That you're not going to feed what you learn back to the rebellion?" Storm spoke before his brain had properly processed the information.

Alison paused, and after a moment, lifted her gun carefully off her back. She carefully placed it in Storm's hands.

"This was my fathers. His favourite weapon. Red Death." she murmured quietly. "I swear, on all the good blood I inherited from him, that I wanted nothing more than to come back home. I did what I had to do. I could never betray my family that way."

Storm looked hard at the Hunter, locking eyes with her for the first time. Her eyes were glassy from the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks, and he felt pity. He glanced over at Alex, who seemed to be feeling the same way.

"We're going to need a lot more information than that, Alison, but... I believe you." Cayde stood up, and offered her his hand. "Welcome home."

"Thank you for believing me, Cayde." She said in a soft voice.

"Come down to the Vanguard in the morning, and we can talk more. For now, go with Storm and Alex. They will give you somewhere to stay until I can assign you a new apartment."

With that, Cayde and the Speaker departed, leaving the three Guardians awkwardly standing in the hallway of the infirmary.

"Well... That isn't really how I pictured seeing my mother again..." Alison weakly attempted a conversation.

"Don't worry. It looks much worse than it really is." Alex attempted to make her feel better. "Let's just go home, get you settled, and we'll go from there." Alex put a gentle arm around her, and smiled.

"If it's okay with you, Alex, I'm going to stay for a bit." Storm looked hesitantly at his partner.

"Sure." Alex smiled. "I'll go with Alison."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Storm returned to Lucy's side when the others had gone.

"Well, that was a bombshell I never saw coming." Storm shuffled in his chair, and leaned his elbows on the bed.

"You have a daughter. I can't believe it."

"You're going to wake up, and she's going to be back, and once again you get slammed with the unexpected."

He was rambling now.

"I honestly don't know how you survive, with all the shit thrown at you on a daily basis. How have you not gone insane?"

He paused.

"Well, to be honest, you already are insane. You're a fucking lunatic."

"But you know what?"

"I fucking love you. I love everything about you, and I have no idea why."

He was quiet for a long time.

"I love you, Lucy. And I love how that sounds when I say it."

"And I need you to wake up, and I need everything to be better, and I need you to be mine."

He felt tears prick at his eyes and he couldn't explain why.

"Damn it, Lucy. You've changed me. I never thought I could have feelings for anyone ever again, let alone a damn Hunter..."

He rested his head on the bed.

"But you... you're perfect. I wouldn't... I couldn't... change a single thing about you. Not a damn thing."

He said no more.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Shout out to phantomslayer230 for bringing their ideas to me, you can expect a lot of awesome stuff coming soon!

Sun breaming through the small window of Lucy's hospital room startled Storm awake early the next morning. He groaned as he straightened up and stretched his neck.

"Uuuuugggghhh." He muttered to himself as he stood up and stretched. He looked down at Lucy, hoping that by some miracle she would be awake.

She wasn't.

He sighed sadly and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"I have to go and check up on Alex and Alison. I'll be back later."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The same sun startled Alex awake shortly after it had disturbed Storm. He quickly surveyed the room, the haze of sleep confusing him. He hadn't even made it to bed, apparently, because he was still in the living room.

He went to stand up, but realised a heavy weight on his side. He looked down, and found no other than Alison, the daughter of the woman he was in love with, curled up against him.

"Shit!" he breathed quietly, and carefully attempted to untangle himself from her. Once he succeeded, he made a dash for his bedroom. He quickly ran the previous nights events through his head.

They'd come home, and after he'd fixed her something to eat, she'd burst into tears.

He'd felt horrible. He'd tried to at least comfort her. Their conversation echoed in his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've known you five minutes, and I'm already carrying on like a huge baby." Alison attempted to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Hey, you've been through a lot." Honestly, he didn't really know what to say.

"I just...I left a lot behind. I didn't want to be a part of the rebellion, but, I had friends. One in particular, I just...I can't imagine how hurt he's going to be that I just disappeared and didn't even tell him. I feel so bad."

"What was his name?" Alex asked.

"Conner. He's a Stormcaller, but he's a little...uh...broken."

"Broken?"

"Well, I met him shortly after I came into camp. His parents were heavily involved in the rebellion, but they died right after he was born. We bonded because I lost my dad that way... anyway. When he gets angry, he can't really control his Stormtrance. It's kinda scary but I know he never means to hurt anyone. If I'd had more time I wanted to try help him, I think he could learn to control it."

"I'm sorry to hear it." He tried to sympathize.

"It's okay...I know my situation is a lot to take in."

"It is. I'm sorry. I've only ever heard whispers about the Rebellion, and none of them were good."

"I never called myself one of them, Alex." Alison looked up at him with big eyes. "I had friends there, yes, but... I always wanted to come home, be with my mother after Dad died."

The tears welled up in her eyes again and Alex pulled her close in an attempt to comfort her.

"I know. I believe you." He said reassuringly. "You just need to be careful, because not everyone will treat you with the same compassion."

They'd sat together in a long silence.

"My mother...she's not okay, is she?" Alison broke the silence many minutes later.

"No...no I don't think so." Alex looked down at the much smaller hunter under his arm.

"What happened?"

"Well... I don't know her that well, except for all the stories in the newspapers. And the time I had to track her down when she went missing... and we fell down a hill and she got a Vex shard lodged in her thigh... and I guess the time she went missing again..." he trailed off.

Alison looked up at him.

"You are in love with her!" She said, a cheeky glint in her eye.

"What! No..." Alex felt his cheeks flaming.

"You are in love with my mother." Alison sat forward to face him. "That is equal parts adorable, and gross." She crinkled her nose, and Alex laughed.

"Okay... you got me." he looked at her, still smiling. "But... she's in love with someone else." his smile dropped from his face.

"Don't tell me it's that mean old Titan I met earlier." she said half jokingly, but the look on his face said she was right.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm team Alex all the way." she lay back down against him, and they both dropped off to sleep.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Alex?" Alison groggily sat up, waking from her slumber.

"Oh, hey Alison. Sleep well?" He snapped out of his daydream and moved to the kitchen to make some food.

"Uh, kinda." she rubbed her eyes. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall, take two lefts. Do you like bacon?"

"Ohhhhh, are you serious? I haven't had bacon in forever..."

"Go. I'll make you some." Alex laughed and began preparing their breakfast.

When she returned, she sat down at the bar and watched him as he moved around the kitchen.

"So, today I'm going to take you down to Eva Levante, and get you some new armour."

"Really? I didn't think they'd allow it."

"Well, you have a lot of things to work out with Cayde, but once you're cleared for active duty, you'll be filling your mother's shoes until she's back in form."

"Do you know when that will be?" Alison asked.

"I don't have a clue. They said it may be weeks before she even wakes up."

Alison sighed. "I couldn't have come back at a worse time."

"Honestly, I think you've come back at the best time possible. She's going to need all the support she can get, who better than her own blood?"

"I guess you're right." Alison smiled, taking a large bite of her bacon.


	16. Chapter 16

She couldn't quite describe the feeling of waking up from the coma. It was like crawling out of a pitch black tunnel...but everything was hazy and confusing.

She forced her eyes to focus through the blur. It was dark, but there was enough light for her to distinguish that she was in a hospital bed. She was alone, which surprised her. She continued looking around until she found a touchpad with a call button on it. She hit it and lay back into the pillows.

After a moment a Warlock stepped into the room.

"Oh my goodness, you're awake!" The Warlock rushed over to the bed, and checked the monitors beside her. "How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?" She started fiddling with the equipment.

Lucy tried to speak, but the tube down her throat hurt like hell. Instead, she motioned for the doctor to remove it.

"Oh, that won't help your case. Let me get that out. Sorry if it hurts."

Lucy whimpered as the doctor carefully pulled the tube out.

"Better." she managed to whisper.

"Alright. I'm going to go get the doctor in charge of your case. You just rest easy, okay?"

Lucy nodded, and the Warlock quickly left the room.

No sooner had the door swung shut than Lucy was attempting to get out of bed. She tugged at the tubes and wires attached to her until she was free. She stood up unsteadily, her legs stiff and sore from lack of use over the weeks. Her strength was coming back slowly though, and it felt good.

She reached for Dinkle, who was docked on a shelf above her.

"Lucy! Oh I am so glad to see you again." Dinkle's robotic voice was comforting to hear.

"Come on, Dinkle. We need to get out of here."

"But..."

"No buts. I want to go home."

"If you insist." Dinkle beeped as Lucy clumsily threw a tshirt and jeans on.

"I do. Let's go."

Lucy quickly exited the room, and hugged the walls of the long hallways before her. She kept her head down as she passed a couple of medical personnel, and after a couple of wrong turns managed to find the exit.

It was dark out, maybe 8 or 9 at night at the latest. The Tower was relatively quiet, with a quiet hum of a few remaining Guardians finishing up their business with the Cryptarch and storing their weapons away for the night. Lucy quietly passed them by and headed towards her old apartment. As she approached the door, Dinkle zoomed up to the lock and opened it for her.

She stepped inside, and fumbled for the light. When she found the switch, she flicked it, but no light came on.

"Ugh, Dinkle. Can you go flick on that lamp? I guess the bulb blew while I was gone."

The robot buzzed past her ear and after a second, the lamp flicked on.

Lucy suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. The room was filled with her fireteam, Cayde and a couple of doctors.

"The fuck!" The screeched, reaching for the nearest solid object to steady herself. "Why the fuck are you in my house? Are you trying to give me a goddamn heart attack?"

"Oh, I don't know, Lucy, how about the heart attack all of us had when we found your hospital bed empty?" Storm was directly in front of her, arms crossed across his broad chest, and he looked mad. Very mad.

"I..." Lucy stuttered, shaking from fright. In an instant, she whipped around, ready to make a bolt for the door, but instead slammed face first into Alex, who had stepped in front of the doorway.

"Nope." He murmured. He spun her away from him and pulled her back to his chest.

"I don't know what happened and I didn't know what to do and all I wanted to do was come home." she whimpered, leaning back into him.

"It's alright, Lucy. We can explain everything to you, but we need to make sure that you're alright."

"I'm fine. I promise." she tried to wriggle out of Alex's grasp but he held firm.

"Let the doctors look you over, and then we can talk." Storm's tone indicated he was in no mood for bargaining.

Alex moved her towards a chair as she sighed in defeat. The doctors moved around her, poking and prodding, and it took everything in her not to hit them.

"Everything seems good." One doctor finally said. "Rest. And no more running away."

"Thank you, doctor." Storm said as he showed them out.

Alex guided her over to the bed he'd made up for her.

"I don't want..." She began, but Alex firmly pushed her down and tucked her up.

"I don't care." he whispered gently. "Just lie still."

Storm, Alex, and Cayde all pulled up a chair beside her bed, and the other Guardians departed shortly after.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, looking up at the three beside her.

"Lucy...You've got to stop this." Storm ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry. I just... I don't know. I got confused. I felt weird being in that room... I was alone, I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to come home."

"What do you remember?" Storm asked suddenly, and Lucy frowned.

"I...I'm not sure. I... Weren't we supposed to go and fight Oryx?"

"We did." Alex responded.

"Wow, really? Did we... Did we win?"

"Not really, no."

"Shit...please don't tell me someone died..." tears immediately appeared in her eyes.

"Hush, baby. Nobody died." Storm soothed, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Oryx...took himself." Alex broke the following silence. "We have to find him again. But we can't do that without you."

"I'm sure you can." Lucy murmured, starting to feel sleepy.

"We don't want to. This is your fight as much as it is our own."

"But next time, if there's any ascendant essence involved, you aren't allowed to touch it." Cayde put in, half jokingly.

"What? Is that what happened?" Lucy cocked her head a little.

"Apparently you had quite the reaction to it. That's what knocked you on your ass the last four weeks." Alex replied.

"Four weeks? Holy crap." She breathed.

"You need to get some rest now." Storm interruped. "You need your strength for tomorrow. We have a surprise for you." He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear before standing up.

"A surprise?"

"I promise, it'll be worth it. Now try and go to sleep. Alex and I will be in the other room if you need us." Storm tucked her up once more, and left the room.

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"Wake up, sunshine!" Alex's voice was way too chirpy for this time of morning, and Lucy grumbled.

"Come on, babygirl. It's time to get up!" He pulled the covers off her, and she grumbled.

"Come on. Surprise time." He pulled her up and out of bed, setting her on her feet.

"Ugh. I hate you." she muttered as he pulled a sweater over her head. He took her by the hand and led her out of the room.

"What's this big - " her sentence was cut off as she looked up at the person standing on the other side of the room.

"Surprise." Alison said timidly.

Lucy went white as a sheet, and Alex stepped behind her to support her.

"What the shit..."

"Mom..."

"No, it can't be..." Lucy stuttered.

"It's me, Mom. For real."

"Oh my god, Alison, it's really you." Lucy sprinted across to her daughter, throwing her arms around her.

"My baby, my sweet, sweet baby..." Tears poured down Lucy's face. She pulled away and cupped her hands around Alison's face.

"My god, Alison, you look just like your father..."

"Come, sit down, both of you. I'll fix some food." Alex interrupted and gently sat Lucy down on the sofa.

Alex joined Storm in the kitchen.

"Well that went well." Alex commented, passing Storm some ingredients.

"I was worried." Storm murmured, keeping his voice low.

"Me too. But the important thing is, she has her daughter back."

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"I can't believe it." Lucy said for the hundredth time that day, as she and her daughter took a slow walk along the apartment blocks.

"I know, Ma." Alison laughed.

"Your father would've been so proud of you, you know." Lucy said wistfully as she leaned on a railing overlooking the central area of the Tower.

"Tell me about him."

"Well, he was a Warlock. I honestly expected you to come out a Warlock too, but nope, you were a Hunter through and through. I was a little relieved, actually. I had no idea how to raise a Warlock." Lucy laughed. "Your dad was assigned to my fireteam. I'd never thought of him romantically, really. He was handsome, and smart as a Warlock should be. And then one day, he made his feelings clear, and we were never apart until the day he died."

"He sounds incredible." Alison said quietly, sensing her mother's grief.

"Oh, he was. Our wedding day... the day you were born... Best days of my life. I was lucky to have been a part of his life, no matter how short." Lucy was silent a while.

"But best of all, he gave me you, and you're everything good about the both of us put together."

"Aw, Ma. I haven't been that good."

"I was told you were dead. I'd say just the fact that you're perfectly alive is enough for me."

"I'm glad to be back." Alison murmured, deciding against saying more.


	17. Chapter 17

Lucy made her way carefully across the Cosmodrome. After finally being cleared for light active duty once more, she was keen to get out and get some fresh air. Being in the Tower too long always made her antsy. She climbed up a steep cliff, and into an old abandoned cave. The cave had the most perfect view of Earth, high off the ground and well away from any nasty enemies.

She sat down on the ledge and took a deep breath of the cold air. Reflecting on the last few months, she'd been a mess, but now things were finally looking up. With the return of her daughter, she felt complete again - at least as complete as she could without Brucie.

Lucy hadn't really talked to Storm since she woke up, and to be honest she'd kind of been avoiding him. She knew he was madly in love with her, and honestly, she didn't know if she felt the same. He was kind, and genuine, but a part of her felt like she didn't deserve that kind of love. Not after all the crap she'd put him through. But for some reason, he'd kept on putting up with her.

And then there was still the dilemma of Alex. Alex was more distant, more respectful of her space, and seemed to really connect with Alison in a fatherly way. It made her heart beat faster watching him engage with her. How could she possibly take that away from her own daughter?

She took a large mouthful of the beer she'd stashed away in the cave, just as a noise startled her out of her thoughts. She immediately jumped to her feet, shotgun at the ready.

"Announce yourself or I'll fire." She yelled.

"It's just me." she caught sight of Storm's Helm of St.14 peeking over the edge as he hoisted himself up.

"Jesus, Storm." She tossed her shotgun aside and sat down again. "I'm not even getting into any trouble." She muttered, a little irritated that he was in her personal space yet again.

"I just wanted to talk to you, and I wasn't it to be away from all the chaos." He said simply, sitting down beside her.

"I'm not really in a talking mood, Storm..." she looked at him, half irritated.

"Then let me do the talking?" He raised an eyebrow and she sighed.

"Fine."

"I just wanted to see how you're doing, what with everything going on lately. But since you don't feel like talking, I guess I'll just chill here, if that's okay."

She shrugged.

"Alison is quite something, you know. I was watching her and Alex in the Crucible today. He's one of the best and she was challenging him in ways I've never seen before."

"What can I say, she's my daughter through and through." Lucy responded.

"Looks just like you, too." Storm laughed a little.

"What's so funny, chuckles?"

"Ah, nothing." He put an arm around her and drew her into him. She let her head rest on his chest.

"I know I've been kind of... full on with you, Lucy. I'm sorry." he said after a long silence.

"Full on?" She cocked her head up towards him.

"I know I dropped the 'L' word too soon, and I know you've been trying to deal with conflicting emotions, and all the rest of the shit that's been going on...I just..." he paused.

"What?" her gaze at him intensified.

"I need to know if you feel the same." he blurted out, and she sat quiet for a minute. He looked down at her to make sure she was paying attention.

As his gaze locked onto hers, he couldn't help but press his lips against hers in a soft kiss. She returned it briefly and then pulled away.

"I..." she stuttered, searching for the right words. "I do... I just... I need to focus on Alison right now." her excuse sounded so weak, and she instantly hated herself. She pulled herself out of his grasp, feeling like a right asshole.

"It's okay, Lucy. I just wanted to make sure I'm not reading everything wrong."

She looked at him.

"I'll wait." He said quietly, locking his eyes onto hers. "If this is meant to be, I will wait until you're ready."

She smiled a little, relieved that he wasn't angry at her for essentially shooting him down.

"I'll take another one of those kisses, though." she said timidly, climbing into his lap and pressing her lips against his.

The two watched the sunset together, before eventually heading home.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Alison, you're kicking my ass right now!" Alex yelled as the younger Hunter came blade dancing towards him at a speed he'd only seen her mother achieve.

"Resurrecting." His ghost revived him at a different spot on the map.

"Haha, well, I picked up a few tricks in the Rebellion. One of them was, 'How to Kick your fellow Hunter's ass." her giggles rang through his helmet.

"Oh, shut up. I've been going easy on you." He retorted, but no sooner had he finished speaking than his head was popped off by her sniper.

"Ow. That was not cool." He muttered as his ghost resurrected him.

"And that's the game. I win, fair and square. You owe me fifty dollars." She threw her sniper rifle on her back and sat down on a ledge. Moments later, Alex joined her.

"You're good, I'll give you that. All this stuff going on recently has made me a little rusty." he groaned as he sat down.

The two sat in silence for several long moments.

"Listen... I need your help." Alison timidly turned towards Alex.

"What is it?"

She was silent again for a moment.

"I want to go with you to fight Oryx." She blurted out suddenly.

"What?! Are you out of your pretty little mind?" Alex was stunned by what he heard.

"Please, Alex. I'm good. I'm strong, and I can do it. I'm good enough!"

"Alison, darling. I know you are. But your mother would never let you do anything of the sort, even if I did let you."

Alison sighed. "I know. That's why I wanted you to talk to her."

"I don't know about that, Ali." Alex gazed off into the distance. I haven't talked to her in a while."

"Well you should. I know you love her." Alison elbowed him in the ribs, and he playfully shoved her away.

"I know our relationship is kinda weird. But I never had a father figure before. Do you know how cool that would be for me?" She giggled.

"I guess I could try..." Alex was hesitant, but he didn't want to let down the bright eyed Hunter beside him.

"Thank you, Alex. Thank you." she planted a kiss on his cheek before jumping up. "Come on. I'm starving."


	18. Chapter 18

"Lucy! Good to see you." Cayde greeted his Hunter as she walked down to the Vanguard a few days later.

"You too, Cayde. So, we've got some planning to do?"

"Oh, yes. We have to hit Oryx, and soon. We sent another fireteam down onto the dreadnaught to see if they could track him further, and they did. In fact, they've even managed to pinpoint him to a specific room. They were instructed not to engage, and we pulled them out once they placed a transmat nearby."

"That's fantastic. Do we know anything about this room?" Lucy leaned over the table as Storm and Alex walked into the room.

"Yeah. It has four small platforms, one in each corner, and two large ones in the middle on each side. From what their ghosts could decipher, it looks like there's some type of relic you need to grab to expose his weaknesses. Other than that, we can't really tell what might happen in there."

"Oh god. This is going to kill us all." She muttered.

"But first, you need to pick your team." Cayde came up beside her.

She gazed up at Storm and Alex.

"Well, obviously those two. I want two of every class. Alex and I fill the Hunters. Storm and Lee are our Titans, Jason and Dylan our Warlocks."

"You're sure?" Cayde enquired.

"Who else would I pick?" she stared up at the Exo.

"I... well I thought you might want to take Alison."

"You're kidding me. I just got her back, and you suggest that I risk her life? She's young. Inexperienced. I'm not putting her in danger like that."

"She's extremely talented, Luce..." Alex stepped in, and she turned to face him so fast he was sure he heard her neck crack.

"Talent isn't going to save her. I'm not taking her. End of story." she huffed and turned back to the table, hoping none of them would see the tears pricking at her eyes.

"Okay. Well... There's not much else we can really do, so I'd suggest you gather your team, rest up, and get ready to depart in two days." Cayde broke the awkward silence that was mounting, and the Guardians departed.

0-0-0-0-0

"Alright, fellas. This is it. No going back now." Lucy paced the ship, her nerves getting the better of her.

Storm got up and stood in her path, making her bang into him. She looked up at him, annoyed, but before she could say anything he had pulled her into a hug. He looked at Alex, and silently beckoned him over. Alex nodded and got up to join him in the hug. The other three followed suit, until she was buried by Guardians.

A muffled giggle escaped from the centre.

"I love you guys. Just please promise that you'll all be careful. I can't lose any of you, okay?" her voice cracked a little and the group hug tightened.

"Again, I love you guys, but I can't breathe..." she laughed a little as they all let go.

"We are a team, Lucy, and a team we will stay, forever." Alex soothed.

"Ready for landing, Lucy." Dinkle beeped.

She took a deep breath.

"No time like the present."

0-0-0-0-0

The enormous doors creaked open as they all walked up to it. The six stepped into the massive room, guns aimed, only to find it empty.

Lucy lowered her gun.

"He's not even here..." she mumbled, half to herself.

"Let's look around. Storm moved forward, and the rest followed.

"Hey, what's this?" Dylan yelled as he moved towards a weird ball of light in the front of the room. Before he could react, it made a strange noise, and disappeared from sight.

"What did you do?!" Lucy yelled, leaping towards him.

"I didn't touch it, I swear!" Dylan jumped backwards.

"Oh, shit..." Storm and Alex said simultaneously as a rumble erupted from underneath them, and Oryx came climbing up the wall in front of them.

"Run back!" Lucy yelled, and the six dashed behind cover.

"We have enemies at 12 o'clock." Storm called out, and the six spread out more.

"Alex, see if you can tether those thrall."

He obeyed, and they easily defeated them all.

"Holy crap. Watch out for those Knights." Jason scooted out of the way of the fire being shot at him.

Two clean headshots from the group took out the knights.

"Okay... so I think I have to grab that thing up in the sky." Lucy shot towards a glowing orb.

Suddenly, Oryx slammed down on one of the platforms.

"I'm going for it!" Lucy yelled. "Storm, Lee, you take care of whatever is on the ground."

"I'm coming with you." Alex was right behind her as she leapt on the platform.

"Oh my god, what the hell just happened?" Lucy was suddenly grey and transparent.

"You're torn. Jump!" Alex yelled.

Lucy took a leap just as Oryx tried to fire at her.

"I need more platforms!" Lucy yelled as she desperately looked for another ledge to jump to.

"On it." Jason leapt up, and Dylan followed suit.

"Oh god." Lucy whispered as she reached the relic. "Oh god I hate heights!" She screeched as she plummeted from the air and down to the ground, landing on a Knight.

"Oh, he's got a brand. How convenient."

"Wait, what is he doing?" Storm turned to face Oryx. His chest was opening in a blinding flash of light.

"I don't know, shoot at it!" Jin immediately began firing at the light.

After a few seconds, Oryx staggered backwards.

"Jesus. That was too intense for me." Lucy knelt down, trying to get her breath back.

"Woah, watch out." Storm said as the brand disappeared, and Oryx returned to the front of the room.

"What the shit..."

"Oh my god what is that?" Alex yelped as Oryx spawned a huge black orb in front of him. No sooner had he said that than he disappeared.

"Where the fuck did he go?!" Lucy instantly panicked.

"Uh, I'm okay! I'm okay!" Alex's voice crackled after a few long moments of silence. "I'm uh... I'm somewhere... Oh shit!" He narrowly avoided being sliced in half by a Shade, just as Lee, Jason and Storm were sucked in to the orb. Eventually, all six were inside, and they only barely managed to kill the Shade without dying. Suddenly, they were teleported back to the room they'd originally been in.

"What do we do now?" Storm looked around, and Oryx was moving down the side of the room.

"The same thing, I think." Lucy made a leap for the platform after Oryx's fist came down on it.

"Guys, what are these orb things on the ground?" Lee asked.

"I've got no idea. We'll figure it out once these ogres are dead." Storm replied, popping out of his bubble to shoot at the huge monstrosities.

"Oh, they're dropping those orb things." Lee remarked as an Ogre died.

"I'm coming down!" Lucy yelled suddenly, and Storm almost laughed at the sight of the little Hunter dropping to the ground at warp speed.

"Here we go again." He muttered as they started shooting at Oryx's chest once again.

"You know, we're shooting at him, but he's not getting hurt by it..." Lucy commented as she was warped into the Shade's orb.

"I'm telling ya, those black orb things have something to do with it." Lee said as the Shade died. "I say we try getting rid of those next time."

"We'll give it a go." Lucy responded as she took a leap onto the platform once again. "And I'll tell you what, all this running is starting to get old."

"Oh shut up. You're a Hunter. You just bounce around like a ping pong ball." Dylan retorted.

"At least I don't floof around like a little pansy." Lucy snapped as she fell from the air once again.

"Okay. Stop bickering, and when I say to, try shooting those black orbs." Lee said as they staggered Oryx again.

"It's not working!" Storm yelled.

"Run into it!" Lucy instructed.

"Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm not. It's too late now though. We have to fight that Shade thing again." Lucy said as the brand disappeared.

It was moments later that things got crazy, and nobody was prepared. They were all teleported into the Shade's orb again, and just as Jason came in, the Shade slammed down on him, hard, and he immediately dropped dead to the ground.

"Jason!" Lucy screamed, grief immediately taking over her body. She ran over to his lifeless form.

"Lucy, focus! We have to kill it!" Storm yelled, yanking her to her feet. "Shoot it, for god's sake!"

She complied, barely able to see through her tears, and she watched as the Shade fell.

As they teleported out, Lucy was barely able to control her tears.

"We have to keep going, Luce." Storm grabbed onto her hand as they ran to the centre once more. Suddenly, a blinding light from beside Lucy startled them all, and Lucy yelped. They whipped around to face whatever it was, only to find Jason, glowing solar wings around his body, his grenades flying everywhere, taking out all the enemies nearby.

"Oh my god, Jason." Lucy threw herself into his arms.

"I'm alright! I just didn't know if resurrecting in that Shade orb was going to be a good idea. Sorry I can't technically communicate when I'm dead."

"Lucy, go!" Alex yelled, and Lucy let go of Jason and sprinted for the platform.

"One more time, babygirl. You can do it." Storm was saying as he shot down the last of the Ogres.

"I'm coming down!" She yelled as she dropped from the sky. As she went for the brand, an Axion dart hit her directly in the leg. "Fucking ow! Are you kidding me?" She yelped as she limped down towards the others as fast as she could.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Alex asked, falling into line with her and shooting at Oryx.

"Fine. Let's just... run to the orbs! Go!" She had no faith that it would work, but as soon as they ran to the orbs they began spinning, and she knew that was the answer.

"Run back! Run back!" She screamed, and watched in horror as Alex only just slid back to safety in the nick of time. Suddenly, Oryx gave off a blinding flash, and disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Dylan asked as the six stood in silence.

"He's coming back, front and center!" Storm yelled, sprinting forward.

"What do we do?!" Lee was panicking.

"Just shoot at him! I don't know! Shoot!"

And by some miracle, another flash of light, and Oryx's now lifeless body was spinning backwards out of sight.

A wave of relief and pain suddenly swept over Lucy, and she burst into tears again. The boys huddled around her. They all lay down, exhausted from the sheer effort they'd put in over the last few hours.

"We did it." Alex murmured against her, and a hum of agreement rang out among the group.

"We sure did." Lee breathed, laughing happily. And nobody died."

"Nobody died." Lucy whispered, grasping onto Jason's hand. He gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Guardians?" A voice startled the six, and they all leapt to their feet. The Vanguard had arrived, catching them off guard.

"Oryx is dead, sir." Storm stepped forward to address Zavala.

"I can see that, his body is just...hanging out there." Zavala said and saluted his Titan. "Congratulations Guardians. Nice work."

"Congratulations Lucy, you did it." Cayde hugged his favourite Hunter.

"I didn't do it alone. I couldn't have even come close without these boys." she stood back into line between Storm and Alex, grabbing their hands for support.

"We'll send in a team to lock down this place. You Guardians, report home and rest. Today, you are heroes." Ikora smiled at the group. And with that, they were teleported out.

"Today, we are heroes." Lucy whispered, tears of joy slipping down her face.

"Ready to go, miss?" Dinkle prompted, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. Let's hit the road little light."

"Don't call me that."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who followed the story so far. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the end is very near for this particular part of Lucy's live. HOWEVER, there will be a prequel story - which is all about Lucy and her original fireteam, and how she became who she is in this story. Additionally, PhantomSlayer230 and I have been working to create a sequel - which is all about Lucy's daughter Alison and the Rebellion. So please stay tuned to read those stories if you enjoyed this one!**

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The six Guardians stepped off Lucy's ship after the long flight back home. They were hoping to go home, shower and get some shuteye, but what they weren't prepared for was what they saw as they climbed off.

The entire hangar was filled to the brim with Guardians. Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters alike were piled into every space available. As soon as they had all exited the ship, thunderous applause and cheers erupted from every corner of the Tower. A crude path was carved for them between the scores of Guardians, and they all slowly walked through, stunned by the crowd and their reaction.

The cheers kept coming, and the six slowly made their way up to the Bounty Tracker, where the Speaker and the Vanguard had gathered. Off to the side were the Cryptarch, Banshee, Shaxx and even Lord Saladin. Lucy grabbed onto Storm's hand as they came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. An eerie silence fell upon the area.

"Guardians." The Speaker began. "Today, we are victorious. For centuries we have feared the forces of darkness massing against us. We sought to hide and cower beneath a broken god. No more. These Guardians have shown us what we are, what we have always been, and what we will be again."

Applause began to ring out again, but the Speaker raised his hand.

"Standing before you today, are six of the bravest, toughest, and smartest Guardians our world has ever seen. And today, they have defeated our biggest foe."

"Oryx has fallen. Today, we are victorious." The Speaker began to applaud, and the tower cheered. Storm and Lucy turned around to face the crowed, overwhelmed by the reaction. Even their four companions had begun to clap.

"We did it, Lucy. We did it." Storm looked down at his companion and smiled.

She looked up at him and gripped his hand a little tighter.

"Yeah, we sure did, didn't we." she paused. "I couldn't have done it without you." she said in his ear as the applause somehow got louder, and he twisted her by the hips to face him, before pulling her into a hug.

"What was that for?" she asked, her head still tilted toward his ear.

"Well, so that I can do this." he drew her back and pulled her into a kiss.

His sudden display of affection startled her, but for the first time, she didn't care. Every time he kissed her, she felt her heart jump. It was unlike anything she'd felt before, and now, in this very moment, the crowds melted away and all she could see was him.

And she finally knew.

He was all she needed.

The cheers slowly began to die down, and the crowds started to disperse. The fireteam mingled with the crowd a little, until Lucy and Storm slipped away.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Lee and Jason had already made hit home, in an attempt to get to the showers first. Lucy headed to her room, still holding on to Storm's hand, and he followed her. She went over to the balcony and stepped outside, looking over at the crowds still in the tower.

"This is incredible." She said after a long silence. "I never felt like this after I defeated Crota. I was so consumed with grief. And this time...this time I didn't lose anybody. Everyone is safe. And I have my daughter back." she turned to face Storm, who was directly behind her. "And I have you." she planted a kiss on his lips. "I don't know why you love me, or why you live with all my bullshit, but I don't want to fight it anymore. I want you, and I want to be with you..." she trailed off, and he looked expectantly at her.

"Sorry..." she pushed him backwards suddenly and spun around before throwing up straight over the railing."

"Jesus. Are you alright?" Storm rubbed her back, worried."

She turned around again. "Yeah. I'm sorry, I think all the stress just got to me. Guess I'm not very kissable now, huh." she joked.

"Maybe not. But that's okay. You need to get some rest anyway." He kissed the top of her forehead. "I'm going to go get out of this armour, and have a shower before everyone else comes home. Then maybe we can go get something to eat?"

She nodded, and as he left the room started to take off her armour. She picked up her left boot and sighed. The axion dart had left a great big burn mark in the calf.

"God damnit. That was my best pair, too." She muttered to herself. She inspected her calf, which had a large bruise on it already. "Could be worse I suppose."

She tried to relax, but the woozy feeling wouldn't go away. After an hour or so, Storm returned.

"Feeling any better?" he enquired as he climbed into bed beside her.

"Not really. Im just wiped out I think. But I can't sleep, either."

"Maybe you should get checked out later." he suggested.

"I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Well, it's kind of compulsory. We all have to go to make sure we're fit for duty." Storm was stepping on eggshells at this point, and he knew it.

She sighed.

"I guess I can go tomorrow. I'm too tired today."

He was surprised by her answer, but took the victory.

Before long, the two fell asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Lucy made her way down to the infirmary with Storm and Alex early the next morning. She was the first to be called into the office.

"Well, everything looks good with you." The Warlock nurse smiled at Lucy. "That bruise on your leg is nothing to worry about and you're a clean bill of health otherwise."

"Great." Lucy smiled, keen to get out of there.

"Just one more thing, Hunter..." The Warlock trailed off as Lucy got off the bed.

Lucy stared at her expectantly.

"You...Well, you're pregnant."

Lucy turned white as a sheet and for a second the nurse was afraid she might faint.

"There...there must be some mistake..." she managed to stammer.

"Sadly, no, sweetie. The blood test we did when you came in is very clear. You're about six weeks."

"Shit." Lucy breathed.

"Do you need a moment?" The Warlock asked.

"N-no. I'm fine. Can I go now?" Lucy asked, voice shaking.

"Of course, but you should really schedule an appointment -"

"I will. Thanks." Lucy said over her shoulder as she sprinted out the door.

She didn't even stop as she passed Storm and Alex, who watched as she passed, confused.

Storm was about to get up and go after her, but his name was called.

"I'll go see what's up. You go to your appointment." Alex reassured Storm, and the Titan nodded.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Alex didn't have to go far to find her. Thankfully this time, she'd stayed in the Tower instead of taking off to a different planet. He saw her perched on the edge of the Tower, somewhere Guardians weren't technically allowed to go. He jumped up beside her.

"What's good, babygirl?" He enquired, and was surprised to see a tear stained face looking up at him.

"Oh, baby. Is everything okay?" He wrapped an arm around her.

"I... I'm pregnant." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"You...you what?" He turned toward her more, stunned at what he'd heard.

"I don't even know... I just... Oh god I fucked up." She immediately started bawling into his chest.

"Hey now, it can't be that bad, right? You've done it before."

"I know, I just...Storm..." she stammered, her crying only getting worse.

"Storm is my best friend, Lucy. I know for a fact he isn't going to be angry with you."

She pulled away from his chest and looked up at him. "You...you really think so?" she sniffled.

"I know so. In fact, here he comes now. Why don't you talk to him while I go to my appointment."

"But..."

"No buts, darling. You can do it." And with that, he bounced off.

Storm was jumping up beside her just seconds later. He looked alarmed that she was so upset.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" he swung her legs over his lap and she lay against his shoulder.

"Yeah. I just... I messed up is all." she whispered into his shoulder.

"Talk to me." he said quietly as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"I'm pregnant."

The long pause that followed didn't help, and she felt his heart rate quicken.

"For real?" Was the best thing that came out of his mouth.

"For real."

He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted it towards his lips.

"I couldn't be happier." he whispered.

"Really?"

"Really really."

"You're not mad?" her eyes locked on to his, searching for the truth.

"Of course not. It takes two to tango, you know."

She breathed a long sigh of relief and lay back against his shoulder.

"I love you, Storm."

"I love you too, Lucy."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

THE END

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A/N: Thank you everyone for your continued support of this story. This is the end of Patience and Time, but rest assured the prequel and sequel will be coming out shortly! Watch this space and thank you all for reading!


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